


fight or flight

by Story_Writer



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: BAMF Stiles, F/M, M/M, Martial Arts, mentions of abusive homes, not good at tags, not sure yet - Freeform, possible light smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-11 18:55:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 26,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11720442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Story_Writer/pseuds/Story_Writer
Summary: stiles had always had a dream; enter into the dojo his mom had gone to, hale dojo. it was the largest school in the country for martial arts. and finally, at 17, when his mom gets sick he goes for it... it's easier said than done, though, with different challenges and challengers coming from every angle.but he really only ever had two choices- fight or flight.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoy!

Stiles couldn’t believe he was actually here right now. He had been planning this for years. Since he was 8, even. He was 17 now, and here he was standing before the biggest martial artist school in the country. He was nervous and excited at the same time. It was something he had worked at for years. 

The school, hale’s dojo, was the biggest dojo in america, maybe even the world. It was run by a big family, and had over 500 students. Not the biggest student wise, but the quality of the fighters was amazing.

And stiles wanted to be one of them. Like his mom was. Of course, that might be hard with his reputation, which he didn’t know how it started.

His dad was the sheriff, yet people thought of him as evil or something. It started when he was 15. He had kick a bully's ass a little too badly, broke a rib, just one. And then suddenly rumors were flying around. And he was dragged into it. People avoiding him, he getting increasingly pissed at everyone, especially his dad who did nothing to help him.

Eventually, a month ago that day actually, he got fed up and demanded his dad let him go to a dojo to train more. His mom, sadly stiles thought, was sick. Like, on the fence of death sick… that didn’t help any. So she couldn’t continue his training, though he’d give up both arms and legs and forget martial arts for his mom to be better… but for now this was what he could do. 

He had promised his mom, when he was 13, that he would become a great fighter, and his mom had said she’d hold him to that. He would own up to the promise, even if it was made when he was 13. 

Stiles sighed, and pushed the door open. From what he read, the school was for troubled people who didn’t fit into ‘social structure’. The owners helped those people focus their anger, grief, or other things into fighting, recreationally. 

He looked around as he entered, loving every old japanese style art on the walls. 

“Can i help you?” stiles blinked, looking to see a girl, about his age, sitting behind a desk, looking at him. Stiles smiled, unconsciously pulling his small jacket around himself… the girl’s look was predatory, like the wolf she smelled like…

Werewolf his mind supplied.

“Hi, my name’s stiles. Stiles robinski.” he said, choosing to go by his mom’s old maiden name, he had discussed it with his dad and they both agreed it was for the best. “I came here for martial arts training.” stiles said, shifting the bag on his shoulder. The girl nodded.

“I expected as much. Do you have any prior teachings, or are you just starting out?” she asked, stiles blinked… he was almost positive this girl was too young to be working the counter, but who was he to question it? 

“Um, my mom taught me most of the basic moves. I got into some more… advanced stuff, but she was unable to teach me more.” stiles said, throat clenching at the reminder of his mom… it was still a sore subject, to him. But this girl couldn’t know that. 

“Cora, what have we told you about this? You’re not old enough to run the front desk yet.” a deeper, more masculine voice said from behind the girl, cora apparently. A door stiles hadn’t seen opened to reveal…

Stiles gulped, because the man, maybe 21, no older than 23, was… gorgeous. Like, model hot. Stiles blinked, but forced his face to stay neutral… 

“Yeah, but he just came in, and there was no one here so i greeted him.” cora defended, stiles blinked. They looked like brother and sister fighting…

“I’m sorry about her.” the guy said, turning to stiles after a moment. “My name’s derek. This is my sister, cora. You said you wanted to join our dojo, correct?” this derek asked, stiles nodded.

“I would like to, yes.” stiles agreed. “My mom came here, and i like to think i share her love of martial arts. I’d love to expand on what i already know.” derek nodded. 

“That’s not uncommon. A lot of people come in, hoping to do that.” he said, stiles felt a small bit of hope flare in his chest… “but we don’t just accept anyone. We aren’t the best school in the country because we accept anyone.” derek continued, a sneer suddenly on his face. Stiles stared back, so the guy was a hot asshole… unsurprising. 

“Alright, well how do i prove that i’m good enough to join your school?” stiles asked, tilting his head, derek chuckled. 

“That, i’m afraid, is up to my mother. She’s tough on all new comers.” derek said, before walking around the desk. “Come on, she’ll want to see you as soon as possible. She probably already knows you’re in the building, and she hates waiting.” derek said, leading the way, stiles followed, glaring slightly at derek’s back. 

They walked into a single room, where a women was training 2 teens. One with curly hair, the other a bigger, darker skinned boy. 

“Mom, this kid wanted to join the dojo.” derek said, stiles sighed. He didn’t like being called a kid… 

“Yes,i heard him come in a while ago.” the women said. “Come, i’ll test you after i’ve finished with these two.” the women said, gesturing to a few pillows. Derek kneeled down on one, so stiles followed suit as the women, talia stiles’s mind supplied it was the only person it could be, taught the two people, adjusting stancing, whacking each with a bamboo stick, very cliche. 

It took ten seconds before both teens bowed and left the dojo. Stiles watched them go before turning back to talia. 

“So, stiles i believe i heard your name was called, correct?” talia asked, stiles nodded. “My name is talia hale, but i think you pieced that together already.” the women said, smiling, confirming stiles’s guess on who she was. Stiles nodded. 

“Good. i always like new faces.” talia said, smiling. “I’m sure derek here gave some speal about us not liking ‘amateurs’ here. Or some such. But that is not true. That is just his way of trying to weed out who wants to actually learn martial arts, and who just wants to kick someone’s ass. We welcome everyone, human or were. Now, why don’t you tell me why you came here?” talia said, kneeling and facing him. Stiles nodded. 

“My mom, she came here, she said.” stiles started. “And she taught me some of the stuff she learned. I fell in love with it like she did. And i promised, when i was younger, that i would become a good martial artist, if not a master… i’ve been to 2 different dojos before this.” stiles admitted, “neither of them have felt right. So, i figured why not come here?” stiles said, shrugging. Talia nodded. 

“And do you have any paperwork?” she asked, stiles smiled wide, swinging his bag off his shoulder. He took out a manila folder, and took out 4 papers. 

“I looked online and found everything i need.” stiles admitted, handing the papers over. Talia accepted them, already flipping through them. She stopped though at the 3rd one…

“Stilinski.” she mumbled. Stiles tensed. “Derek, what does that name mean to you?” talia asked, stiles turned to the man, who looked as confused as he felt uncomfortable. 

“Nothing, really mother.” he admitted. Stiles gulped, but looked back to talia, who looked deep in thought. 

“Neither does it to me, it just sounds familiar.” talia nodded. “Well, i see no reason that you would not be able to join this dojo. You have your parent’s signature, and all even.” she nodded. “The only thing left, that i can think of, is to test your current ability to see what group you would be with. I’ll think of something, come back tomorrow and we’ll have something set up.” talia said, stiles nodded. He thought that they would know the name or something… thank god they didn’t.

“Of course, thank you, mrs.hale.” stiles said, nodding as he got up, bowing out of respect his mother and the other dojos he’d been in had taught him. Talia smiled, nodding back.

“You do have a place to stay, right?” she asked, “i can’t imagine you have a job, or even an apartment, since you’re only, what, 17?” stiles smiled at that.

“Yes, i do. My father helped set me up with a place, my grandmother actually, until i found out if i’d be here or not.” stiles nodded, to which talia nodded back.

Stiles left before anymore questions could be asked.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Derek watched this… stiles walk out of the room. He couldn’t explain it, or what it was, but something about the kid… it pushed something around in him…

Shaking his head, derek turned back to his mother, who seemed deep in thought. “What do you think of him?” she asked, derek blinked. 

“I… don’t know. He doesn’t strike me as a bad person, but he also doesn’t seem to be a fighter.” derek admitted. He had thought it when he first laid eyes on the kid. He was different, for a lot of reasons. There was something to him that derek couldn’t place, other than the weird feeling derek had for him. 

“I thought the same thing, when you first brought him in… but he followed boyd and isaac’s match like it was child’s play, and they are two of our best teenagers. And while it’s a bit of a stretch between following with your eyes and matching the movements with your own… but that’s not what bothers me actually. His name… i’ve heard it, somewhere. I’m going to make some calls, and it might take some call for the information to get to get back. I’d like you and laura to organize his entre test, if you don’t mind.” talia said, derek blinked, but nodded. It always amazed him, how long winded his mother was.

“Of course.” he agreed. He saw that coming a mile away. It was always him and his sister that welcomed the newcomers. And his mother had been right. He didn’t like people that wanted to learn martial arts to take out one person. It was better if they wanted to actually learn it from the geko. 

With that, after being dismissed by his mother, he left. He had to find laura. 

Though, before he could get more than four feet, he was tackled from behind, well at the legs. 

“Uncle der, who was that guy that was here?” derek smiled, picking up his uncle peter’s kid, malia. She was adopted, had been found on the dojo property and peter had almost immediately been attached, and reverse. She was getting better, but was still defensive. They hadn’t been able to figure out why yet.

“He’s a potential new student here.” derek said, malia nodded as seriously as a 7 year old can manage. 

“He’s not dangerous, right?” she said, again as darkly as a 7 year old could manage, though it just looked cute. 

“I don’t think so. He doesn’t come across as being dangerous, anyway.” derek assured his niece, even as he started walking. He still had a job to do the next day, which was testing this kid. 

It took less than a minute to find his sister, and in that time malia had apparently lost interest and gone off… somewhere. When he did find her, she was sitting alone in her room doing… something, but it didn’t seem important, so he knocked and entered.

“We have a new guy to test tomorrow.” derek said, without preamble. Laura nodded. 

“Yeah, mom texted me. Same old routine?” she asked, derek nodded. 

“Yeah, but… i’m not really sure who to have him spar against. I don’t know what his skill sets are yet.” derek said, to which laura laughed. 

“Well, then you spar with him. You don’t have to go all out. We’re literally just seeing what he’s capable of, not trying to break him.” laura said, chuckling. Derek blinked, then sneered. 

“Then why don’t you do it?” derek asked, pushing his sister’s shoulder. Laura snorted, shrugging.

“If you think he can keep up.” laura snarled, derek snorted staring disbelievingly at his sister.

“I thought we weren’t going all out against him?” derek questioned, laura shrugged.

“He’ll have to learn eventually, we don’t take it easy on anyone here.” she said, derek snorted. His family was ridiculous.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
The next day, stiles was up bright and early. Whether or not he got into the dojo, he had his own training regimen. And he wasn’t about to break it…

Plus, nightmares made it hard to sleep so, yeah. He was up. 

His normal workout for a day was an hour run, followed by katas and such, and then, if he had time, a little bit of weight room training. Because he knew, like his mom explained, it doesn’t matter how fast you are, or how good your technique is if you don’t have power to back it up. 

Just like it didn’t matter how strong you were if you can’t keep up with the speed. His mother was very thorough about teaching him about balance. 

It wasn’t until 10 o’clock that he was on his way to the dojo after saying goodbye to his grandma. She was the sweetest lady stiles knew, well besides his mom anyway. His mom was fierce when fighting and/or while training. But outside of that she was so nice. 

It was an easy drive to the dojo, despite it being near new york…

When he pulled up, he was unsurprised to find people outside of the place, watching the open viewing of people training. All good, stiles was nervous. He was used to seeing amateurs, in the other dojos he’d been at… and while there were a few that were obviously new there, the majority were very talented at what they were doing. Stiles sighed heavily, but made himself look away and go into the same door he used the other day to the office. 

This time, instead of cora, there was derek and another women there, both talk in whispers that stiles heard easily..

“-is he even coming back?” the women hissed. 

“Of course, it’s not like we set a time-”

“Oh, is that him?” derek looked disgruntled at being interrupted, but turned. 

“Yeah it is. You took your time getting here.” derek said, leaning on the counter. Stiles shrugged.

“I have a morning workout routine set up. Why interrupt it when the chance of you not liking my style or whatever is just as good as you liking it?” stiles shrugged. He was surprised when both derek and laura seemed confused.

“What does it matter to us what style you use?” derek asked, stiles shrugged. 

“The other two dojos i went to said it wasn’t right for what they were trying to teach the others.” stiles said, shrugging. “And i mean, i guess i understand that. My mom kind of took what she was taught by the people here and changed it up.” stiles said. 

“Well, here you don’t have to worry about that here.” the lady said, “we don’t judge based on an individual's style of fighting. It’s not our place to tell you how to fight, that’s for you to decide. What we do judge you on, though, is quality.” she continued. Stiles smiled. That was something he could live with.

“Yes, laura. That is what we judge on. But only for each person’s personal growth.” derek said, “you don’t have to be the best. But if you give up, we will too. We won’t put in your effort for you.” he finished… stiles sighed.

“Alright dood. If this is more intimidation to see if i actually want to be here, then you can stop it. I do. I’ve been into this kind of thing since i was 8, and my love for it has only grown.” stiles said, “i put my all into it, and that’s all i can offer.” stiles said, staring right back. Laura was snickering as derek glared.

“You’re the first one to tell him off. Most people are intimidated by him when they first meet him.” laura said, to which stiles shrugged. “But anyway, i think that’s enough time wasted. Why don’t we start, then?” laura said, already walking to the dojo… stiles sighed, but followed. 

Everyone’s eyes were on him when he entered with laura and derek… it was kind of unnerving, but oh well. He had had worse stares. 

“So, we had discussed the possibility of you facing one of us, so you can have your pick.” laura said, to which stiles blinked. 

“What?” he asked, laura sighed.

“Sparring. You know, to see what you can do. Now, me or derek? Just remember, there is no shame in not wanting to face one of us. We are the masters of this place. So, pick. One of us, or a student.” laura said, arms crossed. Stiles thought about it, then shrugged.

“I guess derek.” stiles said, to which half the room snorted.

“Guys gonna get destroyed in a minute.” someone muttered. 

“Alright. Just remember, this is sparring, not a match. You don’t have to go all out.” laura said, as the students, seemingly without a word, moved to the sides. There was a whole section of people outside watching, some fangirls screaming derek’s name, though it was silent due to the glass. 

“So you have a fan section?” stiles grinned, as he took up a spot across from the scowling man. “It’s nice, though i think they’ll be disappointed when you go down.” stiles added, glad he had decided to wear sweats that day… 

Derek snorted. “Better hope you can back that mouth up.” he muttered, to which stiles just sneered, playfully of course.

“Alright, just sparring guys.” laura said in a completely reprimanding tone. “The match with end when one of you hits the ground on the back for more than 3 seconds, ok?” she said, stiles nodded. Bowing to derek, who did the same. It was just respect in a dojo to do so. 

When laura started the match, stiles was surprised at how fast derek was to start. He had struck stiles as a more defensive fighter. Just went to prove you couldn’t judge a book by it’s cover. 

Stiles blocked the first kick, deciding to draw out the fight. The goal was to show what he knew. Might as well do so in one go. 

He blocked each blow. They were heavy, each one. Stiles had trouble just keeping on defensive. 

Stiles backed out, aware of the glass he was about to run into. His entire style of fighting was being unpredictable. He just hoped it worked… 

Stiles turned fast, jumping up and kicking off the solid glass, jumping over derek’s kick. When he landed, he jumped up again, and landed a kick right to the man’s side, knocking him down. He got up fast, fast enough that laura didn’t call the match, but stiles could see the students and spectators outside staring wide eyed. Derek, though, was sneering clearly ready to keep going. 

Stiles exhaled, and settled into a basic fighting stance. He wasn’t gonna win with defense alone. Derek’s attacks were too strong for that… screw showing what he knew, he was going to win damnit. 

He again blocked when derek attacked, but this time attacked to, them both landing blows. It was intense. Derek was definitely better than anyone at the other dojos. Stiles wasn’t even sure at this point in the fight if he could win. 

After a particularly hard blow, stiles stumbled back, swinging a leg up, only to be blocked and shoved back by derek. He got up fast, attempting to sweep derek’s leg when he kicked, which derek dodged easily. 

Stiles was again being pushed back. This time, thought, he wasn’t pushed to a wall. He was knocked down, hard, panting and staying down, staring up at a seemingly equally panting derek. 

“Match.” laura announced. It was weird, because stiles was looking at derek at the time. He was… into the fight one moment, and now he was smirking holding a hand out.

“Shut up. I was kidding when i said i’d knock you down.”: stiles said, accepting the help, letting derek pull him up. Derek shrugged.

“Doesn’t matter, but you did good. That fight was better than most i’ve been in lately.” derek responded. Stiles smiled back. 

“It looked like it… i wished i had just gone with being your sparring partner for this, that fight was awesome to watch.” laura sighed, shaking her head, smiling. “But other than that, i think it was good. You could use a little work, here and there, but as a whole, you were nearly flawless.” laura said, smiling. “The major thing that lost you here is endurance and experience.” stiles nodded, thinking the same thing… 

“So, i’m welcome to join then?” stiles asked, trying to keep the hope out of his voice. Laura nodded.

“Yes. our mother, talia, leaves the decision to us whether or not she fully agrees with us. She trusts our judgement on people.” laura said, stiles nodded. “Yes, before you ask, that means you’re in the dojo. The only thing we have to discuss is schedule, whether or not you want to live here, kind of like a dorm situation.” laura said, “payment will come out of tournaments you enter, if you enter them. You don’t have to, but if you don’t you will have to pay out of pocket.” laura finished explaining. Stiles nodded. 

“Yeah, i looked all this up online and from what i can tell, with me being 17 and not wanting my dad to put too much strain on himself, i’d like to do the dorm thing, and pay by tournament winnings… but i was curious. The website for this place, it didn’t say what happens if you lose a tournament and are unable to pay… i guess i’m curious as to how that works.” stiles asked, as the other students went back to their practicing. Somehow, stiles didn’t know how, he derek and laura were on the edge now, away from the glass, which still had people murmuring to each other. 

Laura nodded, seemingly in understanding. “A usual question. But our dojo is funded mainly by sponsors for those tournaments. If you lose, it’s no big deal. We don’t expect you to win constantly, that would be impossible. That would also mean we were failing our other students if one person won them all. No, if you lose, then you lose. But if, if you win, you put maybe a quarter of that to the dojo, the rest is yours.” laura said easily. Stiles nodded…

“Alright, i just have one more question. The training… i saw that there was a, like, free practice option or something? How does that work?” he asked, laura chuckled. 

“Figures you’d want that type of thing.” she mused, mainly to herself it seemed. “Yes, there is. Some people like to work by themselves and just work on their own techniques and/or skill sets. You have to understand we don’t have enough space here for everyone to do their own thing in separate rooms. But, if you wish, you are welcome to do that. If that’s how you improve, then so be it. But we are here to help you, should you need it. Even if it is just a sparring partner.” stiles couldn’t help thinking that was awesome. He liked working alone to improve himself… and having people to help him… that made it better. 

Then laura cocked her head to the side, then sighed. “Our mother would like to talk to you, for a little while.” she said, standing up. “We’ll explore how this will work out later. For now, please follow me.” she said, stiles did so without complaint… 

“I’m surprised you haven’t asked why neither of my parents are here with me.” stiles said, unable to to keep the question at bay. Laura stopped, turning to him. Derek did the same. 

“You are not the first to come without a parent… and you are far from in the worst shape. It makes no difference to us what your parents think. From our experience, not all parents are meant to be parents.” laura said, walking again, derek following… stiles followed, thinking that over…

What a weird dojo.


	2. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another chapter! hope you like it!

The walk to the room talia was in, not the same one as last time, was up 3 flights of stairs. Which while not difficult, was just… why. 

“We’ve been discussing putting in an elevator, too many students complaining about ‘having to deal with all these stairs and training, then the stairs again.’” derek said, rolling his eyes. Stiles snickered. 

“You shouldn’t. Make them suffer.” stiles said, derek raised an eyebrow as they stepped onto what seemed to be the floor they needed.

“You’ll be one of those that suffer.” derek retorted, stiles shrugged.

“Good. stairs never hurt anyone, plus i’ll enjoy storming ahead of the others while their exhausted.” stiles said, baring his teeth playfully. Derek snorted, but disappeared into an apartment with laura, stiles followed. The apartment was nice, simple but not bland. 

And on one of the couches was talia and a man stiles didn’t know, along with who looked to be a 7 year old, a werecoyote by the smell. Stiles blinked, but sat down at the table, talia and the man joining them… the kid had the biggest glare she could probably muster at 7 directed at him. It was unnerving. 

No one said anything, stiles was waiting for talia to start. 

That didn’t mean he was able to sit still. His leg jittered, and it was a relief when talia finally, finally, started talking.

“So i looked into you… you have quite the reputation at other dojos, quite more than two of them though.” she said calmly, her face gave nothing away… stiles gulped. 

“The alphas there wanted something i couldn’t give to them.” stiles muttered, looking down. He wouldn’t… couldn’t meet their eyes. He didn’t know them. 

“Yes, that is what they said you would say.” talia agreed. “But my main concern is that they said you hurt many of their students. They say it was without precedent, that it was done in a fit of rage.” talia said, stiles growled in his throat, trying to hide it. How dare those bastards say that about him…

“Of course they would say that.” stiles spit out, finally lifting his head. “Anything close to the truth would make their dojo look bad.” he said, glad he already had his hands under the table. It allowed him to dig his claws into his palms. He had iffy control on his fox, his mom having been too sick to teach him properly, and him not trusting anyone to help him. 

The only thing he had to keep him grounded was pain. 

Talia looked at him, sighing. “I just need to know that you will not hurt our students, outside of sparring accidents and such. If you have an anger problem, then we can work with it. We can help you, if you allow us. But first and foremost, i will not have anyone hurt unnecessarily.” she said, to which stiles nodded. Fair enough. 

“I don’t have an anger problem.” stiles said first, because he didn’t. He had a decent hold on his anger, even with his fox boosting the intensity of it. “I just… i don’t have the best control of my fox, to be honest.” stiles said, hating that he was opening up to strangers… but he had to start trusting people. Talia nodded, seemingly pleased by… something. 

“And we can work with that. Now schooling, which is important we tell all students here… do you have any interest in finishing high school?” talia asked, stiles blinked. 

“I’ve… i haven’t really thought about it, to be honest.” stiles admitted, not sure how a conversation about him being a possible danger to this woman's pack turned into him going to school… 

Talia smiled. “I’m sure the first thought you had was, how the topics changed so fast. But i don’t hold animosity towards you stiles. I just want to make sure my pack is safe. You seem like a nice boy. And i don’t think you mean harm to anyone here. That is all i had wanted to know.” she said, stiles nodded slowly… he didn’t understand this. “There are a few local schools around, less than a 5 minutes walk. I can contact your father and we can set it up, or you can figure it out yourself.” she said, folding her hands over the table. Stiles thought less than a second about that one.

“I already did.” he said, “my mom was positive i’d be accepted, so she made us pick a high school for me to go to. I should’ve said this before, but the reason i haven’t thought about it much is because i have it figured out.” stiles said, rubbing the back of his head. Talia seemed… rather impressed. 

“Well… i don’t think i’ve ever had a new student come here thinking they would get in. most were quite humble coming in.” she mused, her tone complete amusement. Stiles shrugged.

“I said my mom was. I was terrified yesterday coming in.” stiles said, even as talia nodded… 

“So that’s all i have, peter do you have anything else?” talia asked, looking to the recently to stiles unnamed man. The man nodded…

“I’m curious as to who your mother is, honestly.” the man admitted. “You talked, i overheard, about how she went here… and you also said before your name, to cora to said this, was robinski… i vaguely recall the name, but cannot place it.” peter said, stiles hesitated, unsure of whether or not to tell them… but what could it really hurt, though?

“My mother’s name was claudia robinski.” stiles stated, to which both talia’s and peter’s eyes widened, derek and laura looked confused, and the girl was watching cartoons. 

“I… oh my, i can see the relation now.” talia murmured softly. “Tell me, how is she? I haven’t talked with her in… years.” she said, stiles felt his eyes droop slightly at the unintentional reminded of his mother’s illness…

“She’s, uh… she’s sick.” stiles muttered. “It happened a while ago, and it got worse.” stiles added, choosing to ignore the sad looks both peter and talia had…

“And… how is your father, john i believe his name was. I met him briefly before they moved. He seemed like a nice man.” peter asked, stiles sighed, glad for the subject change. He hated talking about his mom while she was sick. It felt… weird. 

“He’s good. He didn’t leave with me, obviously couldn’t. He’s doing well back in beacon hills. He’s the sheriff, actually.” stiles said, smiling, only slightly forced… talia nodded. 

“Good. that’s good to hear… now, unless you have more questions for me, why don’t you, derek, take stiles to his room, it’s room 505.” talia said, turning to derek, who nodded. Stiles stood up with him when he did, he didn’t have any questions per se at the moment. 

“Thanks, talia, for… not going too deep into this.” he said, before following derek out the door… the guy did not wait for anyone, damn. 

When he finally caught up with him, derek was just slowing to a slower walk. Stiles sighed as he slowed to walk beside the man… he wasn’t expecting derek to talk, and he didn’t. So stiles just walked. He didn’t hate the quiet. With his ADHD, it was kind of a hit or miss with being able to stand the quiet. 

This time though, he had enough going through his head to not need to fill the quiet… mostly he couldn’t believe this place, in a… good, ish, way. 

Talia was unlike all of the alphas at other dojos he had gone to. Most had tried to force him to submit into their pack, since all of the other were students were pack. And he refused…

And he thought that would be it, you know? The alpha wanted his school to be pack, they wouldn’t let a non-pack member in, and he would go his own way…

And that was how it was, for most schools. But… for a few, they didn’t let him go so fast. They had literally tried to force him to submit. It had taken all of his strength to just get out… 

So yeah, to say he didn’t trust alpha werewolves was an understatement. Betas? Fine. he could stand them. They had to listen to their alphas, or their wolf would drive them mad. Omegas he liked, more so. Since he was technically one, after all. They didn’t listen to alphas or betas. They were the most trustworthy, to him. 

But then there were the… the wolves in this dojo. They didn’t act like any he had met. Derek was gruff, sure. But he didn’t seem like a bad person, at all. Peter seemed… questionable, but not bad so far. Laura and cora seemed more like his mom, if he was honest. They were playful, teasing. But obviously serious about martial arts. And talia…

Talia was nothing like the so many alphas stiles had met. She was nice. Didn’t try to force anything on him. Didn’t threaten him, really. Just promising what would happen to him if he hurt her pack/students. 

Yeah, so he was confused. But he thought it was pretty reasonable in his situation. 

“You don’t have to worry about people forcing stuff onto you.” stiles startled slightly when he heard derek talk… 

“What?” stiles asked, trying to get his brain to catch up to what was happening. 

He heard derek sigh softly, not in annoyance like stiles thought he would… 

“I said, you don’t have to worry about people trying to force you into anything here.” he repeated. “I know how hard it is to regain trust in people after not trusting them for so long. But… if you believe anything i ever tell you, i promise we won’t force you to do anything you don’t want.” he said, not looking at him… stiles blinked, but didn’t respond… derek didn’t seem to expect one. 

It took another minute to get to his room. When they did, stiles looked back down the stairs, frowning. 

“How many floors are in this building?” he asked, derek chuckled.

“100.” he said evenly, stiles gaped, slightly. Derek chuckled. “We aren’t just a dojo, stiles. Though that is what it started as. We help people, anyone, mostly, who needs it. Sometimes they don’t want to learn how to fight. Sometimes they just need a place to live. We have about 30 floors completely filled. My mom had this much built because she wants to be able to help as many people as possible without fear of running out of room.” derek said, to which stiles smiled a little… it was nice. 

“Though you’re pretty lucky, honestly. Your room is on the 5th floor. Not nearly as bad as it could be.” derek said, stiles nodded, then furrowed his brow… 

“Your mom said 505… how many rooms are on a floor?” stiles asked, derek seemed to think about it for a minute.

“About 100, on the lower floors.” derek said, nodded. “See, most of the rooms are made for a single person. But after the 7th floor, it starts getting mixed up, with couple rooms and such.” derek explained… which, fair. It made since. 

Turns out his room was half a dozen doors down on the 5th floor. When derek handed stiles a key to get in, stiles opened it and…

“How the hell is this for only one person?” stiles asked, turning to derek who seemed confused. 

The room he was apparently being given was large. The living room was spread out. There wasn’t a t.v., which stiles would have to remedy. But then the kitchen attached to it… stiles felt himself drawn to it. Besides martial arts, there was two things he loved to do. Cooking, and drawing. Drawing he could do anywhere… 

But the kitchen was perfect for him. Up to date equipment, nice tools…

“Well, this is a place for mostly were-creatures.” derek said, following him in. “whether or not you intend for it to happen, i can almost assure you they’ll try and converge here. Not because of any weird reason with this place, it’s just how they welcome new students.” derek continued explaining as stiles explored the rest on the place, following slowly. Not like a creeper, stiles didn’t think, but more like a landlord making sure his new tenant got settled in nicely. 

His bedroom and the bathroom were both plane, big but not grand. Which stiles was glad for. He wouldn’t want to sleep in a giant bed for a long time… it would be more depressing than anything.

“Thank you.” stiles said without thinking about it, plopping down on the bed. 

“You don’t have to say thank you, but you’re welcome anyway.” derek replied. “After you’ve gotten settled in, i, or one of the students if you want, can give you a tour of the place.” derek offered, from where he had stopped in the doorway and was looking in. Stiles nodded.

“That would be great, thanks.” stiles said, sitting up… 

This really was a weird dojo.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
After an hour of talking with derek, he was left alone. He enjoyed the peace of the room, looking through everything. It was bare, besides the kitchen and bed, which was to be expected. Honestly he was surprised by the couches. 

It took less than 30 minutes after derek to leave before there was a knock on the door. 

Stiles blinked, but walked over to it. When he opened it, he was surprised to see multiple people outside the door. 

“Hello.” stiles offered, trying to be polite though he was confused as hell… 

“Hi!” a guy said, his jaw was a little crooked but other than that he seemed nice. Nothing on derek, stiles thought, but not bad looking. “Names scott mccall. We know you’re new here, and were wondering if you wanted to hang out? We could give you that tour derek offered.” he continued, stiles blinked a little owlishly. 

“Um… sure, i guess.” stiles agreed, shrugging as he shut and locked the door behind him as he left. It was a weird thing, but he would have to meet and interact with people here eventually, might as well do it now. 

“So, where are you from?” a girl with brunette hair asked. 

“Beacon hills california.” stiles answered immediately. She had a blank look on her face.

“I have literally never heard of that place.” one of the guys, a bigger guy who was walking next to a redhead said. Stiles chuckled.

“Wouldn’t expect you to.” stiles mused. “It’s a really small town. Nothing really noticeable about it. Though it does have a really pretty preserve in it.” stiles added. 

“So why did you move across country to join a dojo in new york?” the redhead next to the guy asked, stiles shrugged.

“Just did, personal reasons.” stiles said, “my mom came here, so i decided to do the same.” stiles explained. 

“So are you any good?” a curly haired kid asked. 

“Didn’t you see my fight with derek?” stiles asked, to which they all had widened eyes. 

“No way, you did not beat derek on your first day!” scott said, to which the others agreed. Stiles laughed.

“Nah, of course not. But i did pretty well, and he said himself it was one of the better fights he had been in lately… as for if i’m good or not, since you didn’t see the fight, i guess you’ll find out when i start here.” stiles said, sneering at the pout the brunnette, scott, and tall curly haired kid gave him. The bigger darker skinned guy, the guy by the redhead, and a blonde sneered back… the redhead seemed unfazed, all in all.

“Can’t wait, but until then we’re on the bottom floor so we should start that tour, if you still want it?” scott said. Stiles nodded. 

“Uh, of course.” stiles snorted. “If i tried to do this stuff myself, like figure where everything is, i’d get into trouble. Not on purpose, just outside of fighting i’m kind of a clutz.” stiles admitted. Scott though just nodded, leading the way. 

“Yeah, there’s a couple people like that here.” he nodded. “Oh, i guess you should know their names too, huh?” scott said, “the big guy is boyd, the blonde is erica. The two attached at the hip is jackson and lydia. The curly haired guy is isaac, and this.” scott said, slinging one arm over the brunette's shoulders, “is allison, my girlfriend.” scott said, stiles nodded.

Soon, they passed through an open double-door to a bit of land, it was literally all trees… there were a few more people out there, mostly kids, but… it was beautiful…

“This… this is inside the building?” stiles asked dumbly, looking around. Scott, like the other and a few others near enough to hear(so all of the people out there, werewolves duh), laughed. 

“No, i don’t know if you noted our locating in the city when you came here, but we’re on the edge of the city. The hales own the forest, mostly. Minus, like, a small plot of it. But yeah. All forest. Enough to get a good run on the full moon.” scott continued, as stiles wondered down one of the paths…

“Oh, be careful!” stiles stopped, turning to see it was isaac who talked. “There are some… wilder animals out here. And while they’re ok with most people, they do get a bit iffy with new-comers.” he explained… stiles smirked. Time to show off a little bit, he supposed.

“Wanna see something coolish?” stiles asked, to which all 7 of them nodded. “Alright, stand right inside and don’t make movements to scare them off, ok?” they all complied. He could see the few adults and kids outside watching as well. 

He sat down slowly, and, clearing his throat, made a few chirping noise in his throat, followed by some growls and yips. It took less than the two animals stiles was hoping for to come out. A fox and wolf. 

They almost crawled to him, stopping every few seconds to watch him. Eventually, he was able to pet them. He could see the 7 watching with wide eyes, as well as the kids being restrained by, probably, their parents… stiles chuckled, making another small yipping sound. The wolf and fox looked up at him, then a minute later both darted into the woods. The fox lingered on the edge, looking back, before darting off again. 

Stiles got up, brushing some dust/dirt on his clothes, and then walking over to his 7 tour-guides. 

“How the hell did you do that?!” erica demanded immediately, stiles chuckled. 

“Practice.” he said honestly. “I trained my throat to be able to make those noises.” he added, “see, i can do the full shift, and partial. It’s slightly easier to do it as a partial shift. But mainly it’s just practice. I stayed out, once, in the woods for a week with those kinds of animals, trying my best to mimic their sounds… god did my parents hate that.” stiles chuckled. 

“Why did you learn to do it? Do either of your parents know how to do it too?” allison asked, as they started moving again. 

Stiles shook his head. “Nah, my dad’s human, and my mom never cared to i guess. But as to why? Because i love foxes and wolves, as well as most any wild animals. So, i learned how to communicate.” stiles explained. 

“So you actually understand what their saying?” boyd asked, to which stiles chuckled, shaking his head.

“No, i’m not that good. But i get a general idea. Mood, whether their hungry… or horny, god that was a weird night. I tell you, they do not give up until you actually tie them down and leave.” stiles said, shuddering… 

“And that.” isaac said, “is a mental image i did not need.” he added. “Now, can we stop this and continue the tour? We have more than half the place to show him.” he added. 

“Don’t be so dramatic.” lydia said, her voice completely reprimanding. “There are, literally, 3 rooms left to show him on this floor. After is personal rooms, and we don’t have to show him each room.” she continued. 

Isaac pouted. “Yeah, but then i wanted time to see him fight, you know? I’m curious as to how he fights.” they all stopped, a little, before he was being dragged by erica and allison to a different room…

“This is the weight room.” erica said quickly, before he was dragged again. “And here is the group training room, for public view.” erica said when they got to the same room stiles faced derek that same day, in fact…

But then he was being dragged off to the next room, which was about the same size as the group training room, with half the people. All doing mostly their own thing, some sparring. 

“Alright, can you fight efficiently in that?” scott asked, stiles looked down, he was in the same thing he fought derek with…

“Yeah, i’m, good.” stiles nodded, amused despite himself by these people’s antics. “Who wants to get pummeled first?” stiles taunted, to which they all sneered. 

“Ohhh i’m going to enjoyed knocking you down, i’m first.” jackson said, stiles smirked. 

“Hey isn’t that the guy who went against derek?” stiles heard someone say. 

“Oh yeah, it is!” someone else spoke up. “This should be interesting. Jackson’s second in his age group, but that guy did pretty well against derek.” 

“20 bucks on jackson.” someone else said, to which bets started flying around…

Stiles blinked, “uh, does this always happen?” he asked, the 7 again all laughed.

“Yeah, it does.” isaac nodded, even as scott jogged back in, holding a white bundle…

“Here, i thought this might be more comfortable for you to fight in than sweats.” he explained. Stiles just then, which stupid really,noticed everyone was wearing the standard white karate uniform… 

He took it, smiling. “Thanks.” and after being pointed to a bathroom, changed and was back in a minute. He smiled, thankful for this. He didn’t mind fighting in sweats, or jeans for that matter, but he preferred this. 

“You know you can take the shirt under it off, right?” jackson said, as they stood across from each other. Stiles shrugged. 

“I prefer it like this.” he dismissed, falling into a fighting stance as jackson did. They didn’t need a ref, this was a simple sparring match with no seeing what who was capable. 

Jackson started it, swinging a leg at his head, stiles blocked it effortlessly, kicking jackson’s other leg out and knocking him down. 

Spinning, stiles put his kicking leg down and hit with the other and knocking jackson back down again when he got up fast enough and the match wasn’t over. Jackson was up fast, again. Fast enough that stiles didn’t let his guard down. 

Stiles launched the next attack, punching, to which jackson blocked, launching his own. Stiles blocked them too, easily pushing jackson back. The guy was built, and obviously strong, but lacked speed… 

When he was almost at the wall, stiles went for a sweep, to which jackson jumped over, and inevitably, back to avoid it, his back hitting the wall. Stiles was up in a second fist a few bare centimeters from the guy’s face, jackson’s eyes wide. 

“My win.” stiles said simply, letting go a second later. Jackson was still wide eyed when he stepped away, though. “Nice match, though.” stiles offered, holding a hand up. Jackson snorted, at least grabbing it and giving it a squeeze, a nice sportsmanlike gesture. 

“That was awesome!” scott exclaimed. Stiles chuckled.

“Hey, i was curious. One of the guys here said jackson here was second in the age group, whose first?” stiles asked, tilting his head. 

“That would be me.” stiles blinked, turning to see cora walking into the room, smirking. Stiles smirked back. “But no match tonight, hon. I promised laura i’d do some training with her and derek. Maybe tomorrow.” cora added, rather dismissively… 

Stiles shrugged, already planning on taking the hale on…

“Dude, that was awesome, your fight with jackson!” isaac said, smiling wide. Stiles chuckled. 

“Thanks, i guess?” stiles offered. “Though, later, i’d love to find out if you guys are any good too…” stiles said, letting the offer stand.

“Why not now?” erica asked, sneering. Stiles sighed, pulling his phone out just as an alarm went off. He turned it off quickly.

“Because, i have to go down to the school and do some paperwork. And stuff.” stiles said, shrugging. They all seemed confused.

“Can’t one of your parents do it?” erica asked. Stiles shook his head.

“They’re both still in beacon hills. Again.” he added, holding a hand up, “personal reasons. But i’ll hang out with you guys later, if you want?” stiles offered, to which each one perked up noticeably, like puppies…

“Sure, we’ll probably all be here still later so just come by then, yeah?” scott said, to which stiles nodded. 

“Sure.” he agreed, then chose that time to leave, before he was dragged into conversation again.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
After showering, at his grandmother's house since all his clothes were still there, he went to the school. 

It was unsurprisingly hard to convince the school he was who he said he was… 

“I just can’t get why your parents would let you come this far from home at 17. Alone, too.” the principle said, her stare… unnerving, at best. 

“My mom supports my want to be a martial artist fully. My dad a little less so, but he knows how determined i am already about it.” stiles said, calmly, “and this was the best chance for me to get good instructors. Obviously, being in one of the best schools in the country helps.” stiles added, shrugging. The principle blinked, before smiling.

“Oh, tali you mean? Why didn’t you just say so? You could’ve had your alpha accompany-”

“She is not my alpha.” stiles said, not bothering to even argue a little on this topic, “and i do not have one, before you continue. And yes, i have full control over myself. I have all of the files and paperwork so you can’t try to kick me out just because i’m an omega.” stiles said simply, to which the principle nodded… very slowly. 

“Alright.” she agreed. “I guess… i mean there isn’t a reason not to let you into the school.” she said, though she seemed obviously uncomfortable…

“So i’m good for the year? I think my old grades over, but i’m not sure.” stiles admitted, to which the principle nodded quickly.

“Of course! That’s not a problem, hun. If it was, it would’ve been the first thing we talked about before this other, probably personal, stuff.” the principle said… stiles found himself chuckling slightly… he wasn’t expecting this playful side of his new principle…

“Now, unless you have any questions for me, you’re free to go.” the principle said, stiles nodded. 

“Thank you very much. I know it’s weird, a new student senior year, without his parents… but i promise, i just want to finish high school before i focus more intently on martial arts.” stiles said, shaking the women’s hand. 

“I believe you.” she said, stiles smiled… he almost believed that.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
The first thing he did after that was go to his grandma’s house. He only had a bit of clothes with him, he would have to have his dad send them soon…

But until then, he had to say y to his grandma for a while. It was hard, because his grandma, still young only 60 or around there, still looked so much like his mom… acted almost the exact same, too. The only difference? She didn’t like to fight. Watch? Sure, she watched the ufc fights regularly, but she didn’t, nor never did according to his mom, fought. 

“Don’t be a stranger, you hear?” was what she said, when he was packed ready to go back to the dojo. “And call if they give you any trouble. I may not be able to fight like you or your mother, but i have a nice pistol i use to protect myself. I’ll protect my family too, that’s for sure!” stiles flushed a little.

“I would prefer if you didn’t shoot them, thanks.” stiles said, letting himself be dragged into a hug. “But thanks, for everything.” stiles said, his grandmother smiled, nodding.

“Oh!” his grandmother said, slapping herself on the forehead. Stiles tilted his head, waiting for his grandmother to continue… there was no telling if she would or would just stop. “Your mother called!” she said, grinning widely, stiles felt something clench up in him…

“The doctor said she wouldn’t be ok to move for at least a month.” stiles whispered. His grandma nodded. 

“Yes, well her body, she said the doctors said, is reacting very well to whatever medicine they have her on. Enough for her to hold a phone alone at least. Not enough to move out of bed but... “

“It’s better than it was.” stiles finished for her, the woman only nodding, before shaking her head.

“Well, she said that she wishes you the best of luck, and to punch peter hale once for her… i didn’t understand, but she was insistent on telling you.” she said, stiles chuckled a little, still thick with emotion… 

It was the best news he could’ve gotten that week. It wasn’t great, some would say it wasn’t worth getting worked up over, but… to what his mother had been like before he left? He’d take what he could get.

“I promise i’ll come by as often as i can.” stiles agreed, choosing to go back to the earlier conversation… less emotion that way. His grandma just nodded. 

“I’ll hold you to it. Now get out of here, i don’t want you driving here when it gets dark.” she said, practically shoving him out the door… stiles just chuckled and grabbed his duffle bag and laptop bag, the only things he needed. 

The drive again wasn’t that far. Pretty fast, if he was honest. Even with the new york clutter, even on the edge. 

When he was finally there, he smelt before he entered a mass of people in the public viewing part of the dojo. He peeked in, his eyes wide at what he saw. 

It was derek, sweating and panting, facing a guy, about the same size, maybe 3 inches taller than him. The guy was bald, with a weird scar on his neck… 

The fight looked intense. It was clear the derek was getting the upper hand, though the guy got some dangerous as hell looking hits in. at one point, stiles swore he saw claws out… but then a fist connected, and he realized he must have been wrong.

He saw scott and isaac on the side, both watching with obvious adoration. 

“Hey, what’s going on?” stiles asked, kneeling and asking the question, leaving his bag on the floor. He did it quietly, hopefully not interrupting anything… 

Isaac was the one to answer, equally quiet. “Challenger, i’ll explain later for now just be quiet.” isaac instructed, not taking his eyes off the fight.

In another 3 minutes, derek had the guy on his back, fist at his face. 

There was cheering and some booing, stiles just then saw/smelled, more smelled, there were other people, people he hadn’t noticed there before. They obviously didn’t belong to this dojo, as they were all dressed in black… 

“Match, derek.” stiles startled slightly at talia’s voice. “Thank you, ennis, deucalion and the students from alpha’s dojo for coming by. But it looks like this is our win as well.” she stated, as derek let this, ennis stiles guessed, up, offering a hand… 

Ennis looked pissed as he slapped derek’s hand out of the way, derek seeming unsurprised. “Yes, it is talia. Thank you, for your time. I think my students learned quite a bit from this.” a man, seemingly blind, said. Standing up, a cane as assistance. His eyes, from when stiles saw them under the sunglasses, were a faded grey… 

Stiles guessed that was deucalion. 

The other students left, stiles and everyone watching them leave. Stiles was so confused… 

Another minute later, and as if by unspoken agreement everyone left.

“Alright. Can you please explain to me what the fuck just happened?” stiles asked, falling into step beside isaac, scott on the other side. Neither of them got a chance to respond, though.

“They were challengers, to our dojo.” stiles stopped, spinning around where derek stood, towel wrapped around his shoulders and still sweaty… also, for whatever reason, shirtless… 

Stiles had to force himself to stay focused. It wasn’t too hard, but still.

“And that means…” stiles trailed off, seeing both isaac and scott get dragged away by lydia and allison… 

“It means that sometimes, people or other dojos even, come here and challenge us. I don’t even know how it started, but it did. If they manage to beat us, they get 300 bucks, again i don’t know how it started. Nothing happens if they lose. It’s basically a way for students to train, though sometimes, as you saw, the master challenges us.” derek explained, stiles just nodded slowly. 

It was weird, again nothing like other dojos. But not bad… 

“Alright, thanks for explaining, i guess… and it was an impressive match, if that means anything coming from me.” stiles added, derek smiled. It was small, barely existent, but there.

“I appreciate it. Though ennis is no push over.” he said, starting to walk up the stairs, stiles followed, grabbing his bags before.

“That’s all you brought with you?” derek asked, after a moment. Stiles nodded.

“Yeah, i’ll have to have my bad send the rest of my stuff. Like i said earlier, i didn’t even know if i’d be accepted, so i brought enough to last me a while if i did, but enough it wouldn’t be hassle to take home if i wasn’t.” stiles said, shrugging. Derek just nodded.

“If you need any help moving all of it, i can help, and i know a few other guys that wouldn’t mind helping out.” he offered. Stiles nodded, smiling.

“Thanks, i’ll remember that when my dad has it mailed here.” stiles said, as they came to his floor…

“Well, it was nice talking to you, stiles… see you tomorrow for practice and such.” derek said, to which stiles smiled.

“Yeah, see you then too.” stiles agreed. Derek didn’t say anything else, just gave a small wave and continued up the stairs. Stiles was left going to his room in utter confusion…

Not at the conversation, no that was easy enough to understand everything that was in it…

He just didn’t understand why, or how, he could interact with people so easily… 

And not even just derek, there was the seven too. He had done the animal thing, something he had only ever done for his mother, without even thinking about it…

And it didn’t feel weird, not even now looking back on it. 

Stiles sighed, spreading out on the bed… it was so comfy, that he almost knocked out then…

He only remembered to get up when his stomach growled…

Yeah, he had a lot of stuff to think about, but first, food.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you enjoy! review plz!

Stiles didn’t really think that much that night. Mostly, he just got food, pizza cause why not? And knocked out. Only waking up because his phone beeped from the set alarm… 

God damn. He sighed but got out of bed. 

After going through his normal morning routines(shower, brush teeth, shave the barely-there morning shadow.) he got his usual jogging outfit on and was out the door a minute later… 

He was the only one up, which just made this all the easier. No awkward first introductions at 6 o’clock in the morning. That would not be a good thing. 

But he couldn’t help but be excited to be actually running in the woods… it would be so much better than the streets of new york, by far. 

And at some point, if he got comfortable… maybe he could run as a fox… his fox purred at the idea of being given a chance to be let out. 

He shook his head, opening, and closing, the doors to the outside, he stretched, a little, before starting. There weren’t any trails, really, so he just ran. Being sure to remember the path back. 

He was caught up in his own run, sometimes jumping from tree root to tree root. So, it wasn’t until the sound of footsteps, a little behind him, came into range that he noticed it. 

He stopped, turning. He didn’t know what, or who, it was but he’d be ready for it. 

He should’ve, but didn’t, expect derek to be jogging up to him, in a similar dressed up state as him. “Oh, hi stiles. I was wondering who else was out here… it’s usually just me and my family out here.” he said, stiles shrugged.

“I usually do a morning run.” he said, shrugging. Derek nodded. 

“Do you always do it for an hour?” he asked, stiles tilted his head. Had it already been an hour?

“2, usually.” stiles corrected. Derek just nodded. 

It took 5 minutes before they started jogging together. Stiles didn’t know how it happened, but it did.

It felt right, in a way though. He couldn’t describe it… 

Stiles shook the thought off as they neared the dojo again, both panting slightly… stiles was impressed. Over the years he had run with a total of 20 people, derek being the 20th. And no one, besides derek, had been able to keep up with his pace… it was interesting. 

“Good run.” stiles offered when they finally stopped, just outside the doors, where people looked to be just waking up. 

“Yeah, most people, again excluding my family, usually can’t keep up with my running pace.” derek mused, stiles nodded.

“Yeah, i’ve had the same trouble.” stiles agreed. He wanted to say more, to keep the conversation going… but he couldn’t. He just wasn’t good at this kind of thing. Derek, though, was already pushing the doors open. 

“Well, do you wanna spar or something?” he offered, stiles smiled nodding. Yeah, that seemed to be the one thing he was good at. 

After changing into the white karate uniform, stiles having had to run up to his place and get it, he and derek made their way into the practice area. 

“Alright, so same rules as last time, or do you wanna do it differently?” derek asked, stiles thought about it, then shrugged.

“How about pin the other to win? You know, have them down, and have your last blow ready… obviously don’t land it.” Stiles said, derek sneered a little back.

“Alright.” he said, stiles was just glad there wasn’t any other people there, he did not need to hear people betting on him again. 

After a few minutes, stiles found himself, again, standing across from derek. He kind of didn’t want to fight the guy… it felt weird, but it also felt wrong to hurt the guy… god he was so confused. 

He was brought out of his thoughts, blocking a punch that would’ve surely left him dazed for at least 10 minutes, even as a werefox. He grunted, shoving back, smirking back at an equally grinning derek. 

Stiles launched and attack, and derek blocked it. Then vise versa. It was an easy sparring session, and stiles liked it. It was nice to be able to just go through the movements, not having to try and up someone else. 

Sadly, it didn’t last for long. While stiles liked the easy going sparring, and didn’t want to hurt derek for reasons unknown to even himself… he couldn’t help but to also not look weak in front of derek.

Derek though was getting harder with his punches, knocking him back, making him have to go harder to not be pushed back against a wall…

Stiles, in a burst of strength, surged forward, surprising derek who stepped back. Stiles smirked, hooking a foot behind derek’s, and pushing out with both hands knocking the werewolf down. He followed him down, fist at his throat. Stiles smirked. 

“Now, we’re even.” he said, maybe just slightly snidely, he could admit… to himself.

Derek snorted. “I never took you as one to take revenge.” he shot back, as he accepted the hand stiles offered him up. Stiles shrugged.

“I’m not, really. But i mean, when i have an opportunity, well… a little bit of competition never hurt anyone.” stiles shrugged. Derek laughed. 

“Solid reasoning.” he agreed sarcastically. Again, stiles was glad that no one was in the room. He hadn’t trusted a werewolf in years. Yeah, he was only 17. But… what ever dumb as hell ‘adult’ said teenagers can’t have real world problems, obviously doesn’t have real world problems.

But back on track, he hadn’t trusted a werewolf. Especially not a beta or alpha… but, he found himself having to fight the feeling, the so natural feelings that he just… couldn’t act on… but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t be friends with the beta wolf though… 

“Stiles?” stiles jerked out of his thoughts, finding that he was…

Oh shit, he was still on top of the beta… with his fist still at his throat. Oh fuck. “Crap, sorry!” stiles said hastily, getting up and offering a hand up, which derek took. 

“No problem… but what happened there?” he asked, stiles chuckled, if only he knew…

“Just, um… just spaced out, ya know?” tiles asked, derek just nodded slowly… oh god he was screwing shit up… again. “Never mind, wanna continue?” stiles offered. Derek nodded. 

“Sure.” he agreed, smirking. “This time, though, while we have the place to ourselves a little longer… i’d like to go all out, if that’s alright with you?” derek asked, stiles blinked… he hadn’t been asked to go all out in…

He sneered. “You’re so on wolfie.” stiles snickered.

“Bring it, fox boy.” derek taunted back, stiles lurched forward snapping a punch out, which derek predictably blocked. 

Oh yeah, this would be fun.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
The fight continued, and time was lost to him. Derek hadn’t had a sparring partner that could keep up with him this well for… years. 

And that also included his family. 

Now obviously, his mother the alpha was shit tons stronger than him, duh. And peter and his father… well, there was always someone stronger than you, right? 

But this kid… they were almost evenly matched, even going all out. And it wasn’t a sensation he had had in years, being able to go all out and not get knocked down instantly, no he was enjoying this immensely. 

And of course that’s when other people came in. damnit. He thought. 

Stiles also seemed displeased by the other people, who kind of just… stopped, and staring at stiles and him. But he didn’t stop, and thankfully neither did stiles. Derek was having way too much fun with this fight, he didn’t want it to end because of some small discomfort he felt. He also saw his mother and the rest of his family watching. 

When they disengaged for a moment, derek saw stiles take a small breathe in, closing his eyes before they opened slowly. He looked… oh damn, he looked more focused than before. Derek shifted his stance, ready for whatever stiles had in mind. 

Though he wasn’t ready for when stiles sprinted, sprinted, at him. He stepped back, momentarily surprised, and stiles took it, jumping up, sending a knee to his jaw. He stumbled back, but stiles didn’t let up, following through with a punch then a kick to his chest, he went down, a pained grunt forced from his mouth. 

He heard several people gasp, and he finally focused, not even realizing he was dazed, to see stiles there, fist at his chest… it was stopped, but that wasn’t by him, though derek was sure stiles would’ve stopped on his own. 

No, he didn’t get the chance. Peter was there, a arm on stiles’s elbow. Stiles was looking at him, glaring. Derek didn’t know why, and it certainly wouldn’t make this look better for him...

Stiles ripped his arm from peter’s grip, derek saw the surprised look. Peter obviously wasn’t planning on letting go… stiles stood up, backing up but not taking his eyes off peter… he was guarded, for reasons derek couldn’t understand. 

He got up fast, suffice to say.

“Peter, it’s fine. We were just sparring.” derek said first, peter relaxed slightly at the words. “Stiles, are you ok?” derek asked next, when he saw stiles still eyeing his uncle. The room was filled with a low, menacing growl. 

“Alpha.” stiles growled. “He’s a fucking alpha, and i missed the scent on him last time.” derek stared, wide eyed. What? 

“I don’t understand.” derek admitted, honest to god confused… stiles sighed, though clearly trying not to growl. 

“I… i’m sorry, but i can’t… i can’t talk about it here.” he said, gaze flicking around the room. Derek blinked, but nodded. Understanding that, at least.

“If we went somewhere else, could you explain it to me?” derek asked, watching as stiles blinked. 

“Why do you want me to tell you?” stiles asked, as if honestly confused. Derek smirked, a little despite himself.

“I wasn’t lying when i said we would help you, stiles… and i also wasn’t lying when i said i won’t force you, so if you don’t want to talk it’s ok.” derek said, stiles looked actually confused, his hard look melting a if he couldn’t figure… anything out, from the look he had. 

Finally, stiles gulped and nodded, his head hanging. Derek smiled gratefully, looking to his mother who just nodded before he could say anything. Smiling again, derek moved forward, putting a, hopefully, reassuring, hand on the kids shoulder… he was concerned to find it trembling, slightly, but relieved when stiles didn’t pull away. Instead he sighed, looking up. 

Derek lead them out of the room, where he heard people murmuring… god people were annoying. Eventually, derek got stiles up the stairs to the kids place. While he hadn’t been there long, derek was sure the one place filled with stiles’s scent would help him calm down. 

When he opened it, stiles let out a deep sigh. Derek smiled, glad his idea worked, however slightly. The place was still bare, which was to be expected. The only furniture being in the bedroom. 

But stiles just flopped on the floor, back pressed to the wall. Derek sat down after a minute, across from the teenager. 

He waited for stiles to start, not wanting to pressure the kid too much. After a long sigh, stiles started talking. 

“When… when i was 10, i tried going to my first dojo alone.” stiles started quietly, derek blinked but shifted focus. “My dad didn’t like it, but my mom insisted that it was a good thing that i did it. When… when i got there, my parents with me of course. This one was in town, and while i would be living at the dojo, i would be close to my parents.” stiles said, sighing. Derek waited for him to continue… he already knew he wasn’t going to like this story. At all. 

“Everything… everything went well, honestly. I was set up in a room, not like this. It was a lot smaller. My parents had left, and i was doing fine for a weak there… then, the alpha asked to talk to me. I was in a room with him, and 2 of his betas. He… he asked me to submit to him, to make him my alpha. I refused, after being stunned silent for a moment. He, um… didn’t like that. A minute later, and i screamed rolling away from the two betas… the alpha, he had… a sick gleam in his eyes. Said i had too much potential to let me walk out the door… said if i wouldn’t consent to submitting, he would make me submit.” stiles said, derek gulped slightly… 

There were a few ways to join a pack. One, you were bitten and accept the alpha as yours. Another was to mate with someone and kind of just… merge into the pack. There was also… submitting. It could be a good, or a bad bad thing. 

For most alphas, it was just a symbolic bite, and the pack members accepting you…

But then some, the more sadistic ones, forced it. If someone they wanted didn’t submit to them, then they forced it. Which usually involved… rape, or torture of some sort. 

Stiles continued almost instantly after he thought that. “I already knew what that meant. Werefoxes don’t form packs with each other like werewolves do. Yes, we can form a pack bond with a wolf pack and an alpha. But usually, when it’s just werefoxes in the pack, we’re not that deeply rooted. My mom made sure i knew what it meant, and my dad too. They wanted me to be ready for anything…

“But with the alpha, i knew, even just being 10, that i was not even close to being strong enough to take on an alpha and two of his betas. Just one of those two things alone would’ve been impossible then… so, i ran. Before any of them could attack, i turned and darted out the door. It took a while, half hour i think, but i got out.” stiles said, sighing, “when i got home, which took another half hour, my parents were surprised, asking why i was there… i just said i didn’t like the dojo, and didn’t want to be there. They didn’t make me talk about why, just let it go.

“When… when i was 14, and was ready to try to go to another dojo again, i got one a little farther from home, about 2 hours. Again, everything seemed ok. The alpha was a lady, young but nice enough… again, a week later, they asked me to submit. I had had a hard flashback to when i was ten, and said no… she had accepted it, and dismissed me. I left, thinking she was an actually good person… then, at 10 o’clock that night i heard people come into my room. I woke up for, maybe, a minute before something covered my mouth and i was knocked out… 

“I woke up chained to a basement. The alpha lady was down there, and horrible conversation short, she said ‘submit or i’ll make you.’ i told her to fuck off, and she started it. She whipped, beat me, among other things. I don’t know how i did it, but… i got out. I wore down the chains, pulling at them when she wasn’t there. I… i killed a lot of the werewolves there… including the alpha.” stiles said, quietly. Derek reached out, hoping to comfort the teen because… holy shit. But stiles just shook his head and continued. “After that, i stopped until i was 16. Then, i decided to try again. My dad was against it, but my mom reasoned it was better than me living in fear for all my life. So, i did… the ones i went to after that weren’t nearly as bad as that one. They asked me to submit, yeah. But they just said they didn’t want a non-pack-member in the dojo.” stiles said, derek again reached out, when stiles was in tears… he didn’t know how he had not seen them a moment again. 

He felt stiles tense when he pulled him against him, but eventually the teenager sighed heavily, it was shaky at best… but he wasn’t pulling away, so derek took it as a good sign. Eventually, with a little shifting, derek found himself back against the wall as well, facing the closed front door, with stiles with his head pressed against his chest… it was nice, he found himself admitting in his head. 

He also felt stiles’s tear’s on his chest… he felt himself not growl, but kind of scowl. He didn’t know why, but the fox being upset made his wolf’s hackles rise. 

Slowly, after what derek felt was at least a half hour maybe more, stiles started to settle down, slightly. He had shifted, so instead of sitting pressed against derek’s chest, he was now sitting beside him, their shoulders pressed together… derek didn’t think stiles really knew what he was doing. 

“Sorry about unloading all of that on you.” he heard stiles mumble, barely loud enough for derek to hear. Derek sighed.

“Don’t even start with that.” he muttered. “I asked you to tell me what was wrong, that way you don’t attack or hurt anyone on accident. I… i know what fear can do to someone.” derek said, stiles just nodded beside him. Derek was grateful he didn’t ask him what he meant… 

“Thanks, by the way.” stiles added. Derek blinked, looking at the teen.

“For what?” he said, after a few second. Stiles smiled. 

“For listening. Besides my parents, i’ve… well, i haven’t told anyone this. They tried to get me to go to councilers, but they were mostly werewolves and, well, i don’t trust alphas, and most betas. Omegas, sometimes. Depends on the person.” stiles shrugged. “It’s just… it’s nice to be able to trust someone. Even though, and no offence to you, but… i’m not sure how i wound up trusting you so much in, what, 2 and a half days? If that?” stiles said, derek smiled. 

“I guess i’m not as bad a person as my sisters say i am.” derek tried to joke, oddly very pleased by the small laugh it got him.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Stiles didn’t even know how he ended up like this. Sitting on the floor of his apartment, sitting next to a beta werewolf and telling him everything. Well, almost everything. It was more than he told anyone outside of his mother and father, at least. 

“Sorry that i flipped out.” stiles said after a minute. “I usually have at least a little bit better control than that, not much better but better still.” stiles said, derek snorted. 

“Don’t have to be sorry about that either.” he said, stiles blinked. 

“But… i kind of like, glared at half of this places students, not to mention mainly your uncle…” stiles said, “and i think i might have broken something of yours, even if it did heal by now…” stiles added, derek laughed, a full on laugh… stiles tried not to feel offended. 

“It’s not you i promise.” derek said, first, before continuing. “It’s just… i promise, you are not the first to glare at peter. Honestly, it’s one of the nicest things to happen to him, even if this is for a different reason. He’s not a bad person, don’t get me wrong. He loves his pack, and i know if anyone needed him to he’d risk his life for them. But he is a creepy son of a bitch.” derek said, shaking his head. “And as for glaring at the others, eh. Most of them deserve it, and the others will get over it pretty quickly i’m pretty sure.” derek said, stiles smiled slightly. 

“What about you?” he asked, “are you ok? I know i put almost all of my force behind that kick…” stiles said, looking at derek. “Not to mention the knee to the jaw…” he tilted his head, slightly, when derek chuckled. 

“I promise, nothing was broken… though it was close.” he said, stiles winced. “But, it healed nicely. It’s a plus of being a werewolf, you know?” derek said, then seemed to hesitate, before asking; “why did you attack like that?” derek asked, stiles sighed. 

“It’s… kind of stupid.” stiles said, looking down. “It’s nothing that happened in my life, just… personal reasons.” stiles admitted, sighing when the older man just stayed quiet. “Ok, fine. I… i just don’t like tense atmospheres, ok? It makes me on edge, and when i get on edge? My restraint to not hurt people goes down. Like, way down.” stiles said, shrugging. Then, admitted quietly. “I don’t like hurting people.” 

“You were fine when you sparred with jackson though, right?” derek prodded, stiles sighed. Damn the guy was persistent. . though he didn’t really mind.

While the first part of the conversation had been hard to talk about, it was now flowing down to something easier. It was nice to have someone who was seemingly willing to listen to him.

“Yeah, but that was way different.” stiles said, continuing before derek could question it. “That one was people joking around us, and while yes they were judging me, they weren’t looking at me like they were when i sparred with you, it was intense. It wasn’t even like that the first time we sparred. I guess that, along with the scent of two alphas i guess, got to me.” stiles admitted, derek nodding along.

“Yeah, i guess i can see how that would happen.” he agreed easily. Stiles sighed as he pushed up, just sitting down getting to him. 

“Do you wanna eat with me? I can cook something if you don’t mind enduring through a small shopping run.” stiles said, derek blinked. He… hadn’t been expecting to be invited to eat. “And… maybe you can text talia, so i can explain what happened? I’m sure she’d, uh, like to know. Being i guess head alpha or whatever.” stiles said, derek nodded. 

“I guess that would be ok. But you don’t have to cook, we can just order something?” derek offered, stiles shook his head earnestly. 

“No, it’s fine. If… if i’m going to be talking about all of this stuff twice today… i need the distraction. And besides training, cooking and drawing are the only other two things i know of that calm me down… i’ll need the calmness. I don’t want to snap at her.” stiles said, even as derek stood up himself. 

“Alright… then i guess we’re eating here then.” derek said, nodding. “I’ll text my mom on our way down, alright?” he asked, to which stiles nodded along. Derek took out his phone and texted his mom before they even left. 

“Alright, great. What’s your favorite type of food? I’ll make anything, really.” stiles said offhandedly, shutting the door behind him and locking it. Derek thought for a minute, before getting a text back. He blinked down at the screen before turning back up to stiles. Stiles sighed, “she asked if peter could join us, didn’t she?” stiles muttered, as they turned and started their descent down the stairs. Derek sighed. 

“Yeah, malia too.” derek said, stiles blinked. 

“Malia… sorry, who’s that?” stiles asked, tilting his head. Derek looked at him. 

“You met her the other day, the kid that was there when my mom kind of interrogated you?” derek said, stiles blushed, a little, feeling stupid for not putting that together…

“In all fairness, i wasn’t really introduced to her, peter either for that matter.” stiles defended, on the 2nd floor. 

“Yeah, i suppose that’s true.” derek agreed. Stiles sighed. 

“I guess. Ask her what she wants me to make, since you haven’t answered.” stiles said, as they reached the bottom floor, where while there were a few students, there wasn’t a lot. And, luckily stiles thought, none spared him a second glance. 

Derek shrugged, but texted what was requested… stiles saw that he added a bit more to the text, but didn’t question it. 

When they were outside, stiles headed towards his jeep, blinking when derek went the other way. “We can take my car if you want?” derek offered. Stiles blinked, then shook his head.

“Nah, my jeeps fine. Plus, i think driving will help me calm down more.” stiles said, happy that derek just went with it. 

He also couldn’t help thinking, again, of how weird it was that he was trusting derek so easily… he had never done that before, even before the shit with all the alphas, he hadn’t been one to trust easily minus a select few, then the alphas happened and he trusted less people… and now here was derek, whom he knew for… less than two whole days, he was pretty sure. 

“What’re you thinking so hard about?” he heard derek asked, snapping him out of his thoughts. He looked over at derek, the man looking actually slightly worried… it made him smile, if only slightly. 

“Nothing bad, don’t worry about it.” stiles said, derek’s face shifting from one of worried, to a small amused smile but he didn’t respond. Thank god… stiles didn’t think he wanted to explain what he was thinking about. Stiles pulled out, barely used to new york’s traffic… 

“How long have you been here, before you came to the dojo?” derek asked, seemingly offhanded. Stiles blinked, looking at the older man.

“Uh, 2 days, i think? Why?” stiles asked, derek snorted.

“You’re so careful about driving. I think anyone could tell you’re not from new york.” he said, stiles blushed slightly, trying to tamper it down. But he didn’t deem it necessary to respond. 

Soon, he didn’t know how, they started just… talking. About music, sports. Stuff like that, easy topic… stiles was surprised at how much they actually had in common, mostly. He tampered down his feelings, though, when they pull outside of his prefered shopping place- weis. 

Just then derek’s phone beeped. he checked it, before talking. “My mom said lasagna would be nice.” derek said, to which stiles nodded. 

“Alright, good. Easy enough to make.” stiles nodded, glad it was still reasonably early, only 2. It was more than enough time for him to cook. When they were out of the jeep and in the store, derek pushing the cart as stiles grabbed what he needed. 

He saw, when he was putting fresh tomatoes into the cart, that derek looked constipated, or something… it was cute, in a way.

“Have something on your mind, or do you need to drop a big one?” stiles asked, startling a laugh out of a group of teens they passed. Derek glared at him, stiles was 75% sure it was playful. 

“Sorry, i was just wondering… i guess i was wondering why you don’t seem to be able to hear stuff as clearly as i do, or the other wolves. I know foxes have about, if not better, hearing than us.” derek said, stiles blinked, then shrugged.

“Oh, that. I suppress a lot of my powers.” he waved off. He’d done it all his life, it wasn’t that big of a deal to him. Derek though, when he looked back from getting flour, looked shocked.

“Why would you do that?” he asked, stiles snorted. 

“Uh, why wouldn’t i?” he teased, laughing at derek irritated growl. “First off, i do it because the more i suppress my powers, the easier it is to keep my fox in check. Second, honestly, i like testing myself. I don’t suppress the strength, mind you. I would’ve been destroyed in any of the fights we’ve had so far. No, i just don’t use the hearing, or smell much. Honestly fighting you today i slipped and that’s why i smelt what peter was. And the third and final reason is because hearing your parents have sex? Yeah, that’s as scarring as being tortured. I picked up controlling my hearing after i realized what was happening.” stiles said, shuddering. Derek blinked. 

“I, uh, thought your mom was sick and in the hospital?” derek asked, stiles nodded.

“Yeah.” 

“Oh.” is all derek said, then realization dawned on him. “Wait, you don’t mean they did it in a hospital?” derek demanded, stiles snorted. 

“Oh hey, you caught on! Now, i know you have another question up there, i can see it in your eyes. So out with it, though i do reserve the right to possibly not answer.” stiles said, not turning from where he was now getting meat. Derek sighed. 

“In the jeep… you said you didn’t like hurting people, i guess i was wondering why you joined martial arts if you don’t like hurting people?” derek asked, stiles nodded. He had figured that would come up since he said it. 

“I did say that. And i meant it. I don’t like hurting people, but there is a difference between hurting someone and fighting. At least, to me there is. In a fight, you both going at it… and usually i’m in control, but… i don’t like the idea of unconsciously hurting people.” stiles said, he saw derek smiling gently. 

“That’s… i guess i feel the same way, though i guess i didn’t understand the way you worded it. I don’t like not being in control either.” derek said, to which stiles nodded. 

They continued to shop in easy silence, only talking to suggest getting something. By the end, after stiles had paid for it, waving down derek’s many offers to pay. 

When they finally got outside, bags in cart, he saw derek inspect everything being his eyes widened. 

“We forgot pasta.” he said, to which stiles tilted his head. 

“What? No we didn’t.” stiles said, checking the bags. Yeah, he had everything he needed. Derek frowned, causing stiles to frown in confusion.

“We have no lasagna for layers.” derek explained, to which stiles blinked… then frowned, this time in disappointment. 

“Oh. you’re one of those people that use… boxed lasagna.” stiles said, shuddering. “I have everything i need to make it, i promise you.” stiles said, continuing on… derek blinked a little owlishly but followed. 

The drive back was surprisingly calm, the streets an odd lull in the usual traffic, though stiles was happy about it. 

When they arrived, stiles looked into the glass windows, smiling slightly at all of the people sparring… it was so… organized, they were lined up in a uniform way. It was amazing to see. 

Stiles was happy to see they only had to make one trip of bags, he might’ve gone a bit overboard with what he got to make, but reasoned he would absolutely eat it though out the next 10 days or so until it was gone. 

When they got there, stiles put his bags down, unlocking the door, picking the bags back up and re-entering the place… it was still weird to think of this big apartment as his. It was so so weird...

“Do you need any help cooking?”: derek asked, stiles thought about it before shrugging. 

“Honestly? Not really. But… could find like, i don’t know, a table or something to use? And plates or something? I forgot about that stuff when we were out.” stiles admitted, derek smiled chuckling. 

“Actually, i texted my mom to do that, she said alright he peter and malia should be here…” 

Just then there was a loud knock on the door. 

“Now.” derek finished, leaving the kitchen to get the door. Stiles blinked, but smiled. He knew that text earlier was a little long… 

Stiles shook it off, glad that he at the very least remembered to buy knives and cutting boards at the store. It had surprised him that weis had them… but who was he to complain? Not to mention pans, thank god. 

Stiles started setting everything he needed out, including the flour, everything else he needed for the pasta, and the veggies. He had, honestly, taken the time out to get some personal groceries, feeling slightly bad to make derek sit with him but reasoned it away with he was going to be feeding the man his mother, uncle and… cousin? The guy could deal. 

Soon, the smell of two alphas filled the room, not directly but close enough that he couldn’t suppress his senses like usual, fox understandably near uncontrollable. He remedied it by lighting the candle he had bought as well, knowing from past experiences it helped, a lot. Again surprised weis, a store he always associated with just foods, had had it. He guessed it was new york… or the one weis he’d been to before, but oh well. 

When they finally came into the kitchen, the 3 wolves and one coyote, stiles had already put pans down, spray the lasagna pans and put flour in them already, now he was getting ready to cut the veggies. 

“You got a candle?” derek asked, stiles blinked, nodding. “When?” he smiled at the confused look on derek’s face. 

“At weis, big guy. Should’ve payed better attention.“ stiles retorted, cutting both ends of an onion off and beginning to peel it. He was amused at derek pouting. 

“Hello, stiles. Is there anything we can do to help?” he heard talia asked, stiles thought about it before shrugging. 

“Sure, i guess. I mean, there are quite a few veggies to cut up. And then the meat to brown before it actually goes into the lasagna.” he said, to which talia nodded. 

They each, talia, peter and derek each took a cutting board, knife, and got to cutting the assortment. Malia looked bored. 

“Hey, you’re malia, right?” stiles asked, crouching down by the kid, well aware all the wolves in the kitchen were listening, especially peter. Malia nodded hesitantly. Stiles smiled. “Would you like to help me make the lasagna pasta?” he asked, seeing malia light up slightly.

“I’m not good at cooking.” malia said, looking down slightly. “I always wind up burning something.” she muttered, stiles saw peter begin to talk, but didn’t think anything to it when he responded to the kid.

“That’s alright. Wanna know a secret?” stiles asked, malia blinked, looking up nodding once. “My dad can’t cook either.” he whispered. “But he can still make this, so i know you can. It’s really simple, alright?” stiles said, malia nodded, though obviously hesitant. 

Stiles smiled, letting her get a stool that he… didn’t know was there. Well. but it helped her get level with the counter, so oh well.

It took a minute, but stiles was able to explain what to do to malia, and was confident she would be able to do it. He went back to cutting onions, also putting meat in one of the pans… then another. To feed 3 werewolves, a werecoyote, and he himself a teen werefox… yeah, he’d need a lot. 

It took almost 2 hours for everything to be ready just to be put together. With the pasta satisfactorily done, something malia seemed infinitely pleased with, and the cheeses mixed/laid out, as well as the sauce made, he started putting them together, letting malia help him. First a layer of pasta, the cheese, a small layer of veggies, mix, then meat, and finally sauce. Then repeat, on top of that. He also pressed it down, to ensure there was enough room for everything… he still wound up making two lasagnas… damnit. 

When everything was in the oven, they sat at the table, stiles guessed he was going to be questioned now, probably.

“So… if you don’t mind, i’d like you to explain what happened in the dojo today.” talia said, hands folded in front of her… 

Damnit. He hated being right in this moment.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you enjoy! 
> 
> please comment/review, it helps my writing get better!

Stiles sighed, knowing that the question was going to come. He was ready, somewhat, for it. 

Slowly, he started to repeat everything he told derek earlier. It wasn’t as hard this time, somehow. He got through it, somehow. By the end, both talia and peter looked a little paler. Malia looked actually sick, being so young and hearing this… stiles wished he would’ve thought of sending the kid out of earshot.

“Oh dear god, i… i’m so sorry that this happened to you.” talia said, stiles smiled. He hated hearing that. Sorry. But he was pretty sure talia didn’t mean anything by it. 

Stiles shook his head, anyway. “You don’t have to say that. It’s in the past. It affects me still but… i just don’t like hearing people say they’re sorry.” stiles admitted, talia smiled nodding in understanding.

“Is there anything we can do to help prevent this kind of situation again?” peter asked, stiles blinked, then shook his head.

“Not really. I kind of just deal with it as it comes as is. Somedays i deal with alphas better. Sometimes i can’t stand being around one. Honestly, it depends on my mood of the day.” stiles said, shrugging. “Today, i just lost focus on everything else while we were sparring, and i snapped at the suddenness of realizing peter was an alpha. But i actually was curious about something, if you don’t mind me asking?” stiles asked, looking talia perk up in slight interest, the other two adults doing the same.

“Of course, what is it?” talia said, stiles sighed.

“From what i know, packs only have one alpha, occasionally two if two alphas mate or whatever… i guess i’m just wondering how that works?” he asked, talia blinked, smiling… it seemed like it was a little sad. 

“I admit, this place may not be great for you if you don’t like alphas.” talia said gently, “there isn’t only two alphas in this building. Right now, there are 5 alphas that live here. Each has their own pack. They are not, really, apart of my pack. Though i am in control here. They control their own packs, but if a beta does something wrong, like hurt a beta from another pack, i meet with them and try to sort it out as peacefully as possible.” talia explained, to which stiles nodded… yeah, that made more sense than one alpha for, what, over 200 people, he thought.

“Alright. Thank you.” he said, talia nodded even as the oven timer beeped, stiles up right away to get it, not commenting when derek followed to help… also choosing to ignore the knowing smile on both talia’s and peter’s faces. 

The lasagnas were nicely cooked when he got them out, not burned thank god…

“These smell amazing.” derek said, as he himself grabbed two potholders to pick up the hot dish. Stiles blushed slightly. 

“Thanks, it’s my mom’s recipe though. I just memorized this one.” he said, shrugging. Derek nodded, as they carried the two pans in. After setting the pans down, he got the lemonade he had gotten, he had poured it into a pitcher earlier so that’s what he set on the table…

“So, i noticed that this place is almost fully furnished, not to mention the kitchen set up well… are all of them like that?” stiles asked, talia smiled as peter took it upon himself to dish it out. Derek poured drinks.

“The kitchen, yes. All of the apartments are stocked like that, but as for the bedroom. Well, the last person who lived here didn’t want to carry the bed down the stairs… again, he said. So he left them when he moved. I figured whoever we put in here, that being you now, could use it.” talia explained. 

Stiles nodded, that made sense. When everything was dished out, they all digged in. stiles was surprised when not peter or derek moaned at the taste of the food, no it was talia who did it. It surprised stiles, though derek and peter seemed unaffected by talia’s reaction, seeing as how they themselves were enjoying it… malia was destroying her own plate in what looked like happy silence.

Stiles smiled to himself, digging in as well, blushing slightly. He loved his own cooking, insert modesty joke here, but it always made him happy when someone else did too, and a little embarrassed. Hence the blush. 

An entire one lasagna was destroyed, along with 3 pieces of the second one. Dang, werewolves ate a lot. 

“That was amazing, stiles.” talia said, sighing in contentment. Stiles smiled a little bit. 

“Thank you.” he responded, enjoying the praise even if he wouldn’t admit it aloud… talia just nodded. 

“Well, it’s only 6 o’clock. Did you have anything-” peter was cut off mid sentence by a knock on the door. Everyone stopped, looking at the door. Stiles got up to answer it, leaving the hales to talk.

When he opened it, he was met with isaac, who looked confused… 

“Um, hey isaac. What’s up man?” stiles asked, isaac sighed heavily. 

“Um, talia’s here right?” isaac asked, stiles nodded. “Can i talk to her?” he asked, stiles nodded, ready to let him in, when he saw that talia was already there.

“Hello, isaac, what can i help you with?” talia asked, isaac sighing before talking.

“Kali’s here.” he said simply, talia nodded slowly. 

“I take it it’s the same old thing with her?” talia asked, isaac nodded. Talia sighed heavily, looking conflicted on what to do. Finally, she turned to stiles. “I’m sorry to cut this short stiles, but it seems there’s something i have to deal with.” she said before leaving in almost a hurry. Stiles blinked after her, before turning to isaac who was panting as if he ran a marathon.

“What was that about?” stiles asked, tilting his head. Isaac held up a hand, still out of breath. 

“Kali is a common challenger of the dojo.” derek said, suddenly at the door. “She’s an alpha, and always insists on fighting my mom. Always loses, but never stops. The one time we tried to convince her to fight someone else, like peter or something you know another alpha, she threatened to sue… i think my mom broke one of her bones that day, though i’m not sure which one. Long story short, she only likes fighting my mom.” derek said.

Stiles just nodded slowly… “there’s all kinds of people out there, i guess.” stiles said, shaking his head. 

Isaac chuckled, agreeing with a nod of his head. Then his nose twitched slightly. “What’s that smell?” he asked, stiles chuckled.

“Lasagna, do you want any?” stiles offered, isaac seemed surprised at the request…

“I don’t want to intrude if you’re eating with them, though.” isaac said, taking a hesitant step forward. Stiles shook his head.

“I don’t think it’s a problem, dude. I mean, with talia off to deal with, what you described as, the crazy lady, there’s still a good bit of food. And while i love my own lasagna, i dislike the idea of eating it for the next couple days in a row. Whether or not you stay, no offence but it doesn’t matter to me but please, please, take some of the lasagna.” stiles said with over dramaticness, seeing the tension on derek and isaac’s faces from talia going off, even peter seemed on edge. 

It at least got a small laugh from everyone, even peter though that was more of a chuckle. Stiles smiled, stepping aside to let isaac in, who stepped in hesitantly, but didn’t refuse. In truth, stiles had been tempted to say good bye and just shut the door, but he couldn’t when he saw isaac’s eyes, they screamed loneliness. It wasn’t something stiles could ignore.

So, stiles let isaac help himself to what wa left, seeing that peter already cleared the empty tray out. There was an easy conversation, stiles finding himself eating another helping because, well, he liked food, sue him. 

“Damn. how are you eating more?:” derek asked, stiles laughed. 

“Um, teenager mixed with werecreature mixed with martial artist. One of those things i‘m pretty sure would give me a good appetite, let alone all three at once.” stiles said, unsurprised when isaac took two more helpings at once, though the guy seemed hesitant… weird. 

For over twenty minutes they just talked, the little bit left over going in the fridge. Stiles was glad isaac came over to eat the rest, not to mention the kid had a dry wit to him. Plus a puppy like personality that stiles couldn’t help liking.

Then talia was huffing into the room, obviously irritated. 

“That took a while, sister. It usually only takes you a few minutes to take that one down.” peter said, which talia responded to with a glare. 

“Yes, well. She wanted a rematch, and then another. Then another. It got to the point where i told her to just leave, telling her if she wanted to then try to sew the place.” she muttered, stiles watched the exchange, but didn’t comment. It wasn’t really his place. She blinked when she saw isaac still there, but smiled. “Hello isaac, i’m sorry i didn’t realize you were still there.” she said, isaac blushed. 

“Yeah, stiles invited me in.” he said, to which talia nodded. 

“It’s fine, not that it matters whether i do or not but i wouldn’t have minded it. I think we were just about done with conversation anyway, unless you had something else to ask me stiles?” talia asked, stiles blinked, then flushed a little, nodding.

“Um, i was actually wondering if you knew when the next um, tournament is?” stiles asked, rubbing the back of his head. Talia smiled.

“There is one in two weeks. Apply now, or sometime this week. I look forward to you participating.” talia said, stiles nodded. After a few minutes, they all filtered out. Derek being the last to leave, stiles walking him out as peter and malia, the last two to leave before derek, disappeared up the stairs. Unsurprisingly, derek started talking. Stiles kind of suspected it when the guy stayed back.

“Thank’s, for what you did with isaac.” he said and… not what he was expecting honestly. 

“Uh, sure. I guess? I mean, i didn’t really do much there, just invited him in… not to be a douche, really, but he seemed kind of lonely, you know? I figured it would be a nice thing to do.” stiles said, derek smiling, a barely there uptic of his mouth. Stiles doubted the man knew he was smiling.

“That’ what i mean… isaac had a hard life, though i won’t go into detail. He’s had a hard time adjusting here, and it’s good for him to have a few people be nice to him.” derek explained, to which stiles nodded instantly, oh yeah he knew that feeling.

“Yeah, of course.” he agreed. Derek smiled, waving one last goodbye before he left… stiles watched him go, having to fight his disappointment that derek was leaving.

When he got inside, groaning at the sight of all the dishes…

God damnit, he did not think this dinner thing through…   
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
The next few days after that passed by surprisingly fast for stiles. He got into a small rhythm of running with derek in the mornings, and training with the guy in the afternoon. It was a nice easy thing to do. They didn’t always have the place to themselves in the early mornings, obviously. But it didn’t stop them, which stiles was grateful for. 

Usually, like he had told derek and laura the first day he was there, he liked working alone… but he couldn’t help but love working with derek. He felt like he was improving a good bit, maybe not as much as he would have if he worked alone but… he couldn’t find it in himself to give a shit about that, not when working with derek felt so right. 

Even if he was still a little hesitant about hurting the guy in anyway…

Though today, he found himself running alone… he didn’t think much of it, derek didn’t have an obligation to run with him all of the time. So, when he finished his run and was going inside, he didn’t expect to see derek… but he did, just not how he would’ve thought. As he was walking in, derek stormed past him looking upset, almost sprinting once he hit the tree line outside.

Stiles blinked, not expecting that to happen… but he followed. Derek had been so understanding, listening to him when he needed it. He wanted to be able to be there for derek too.

He let his senses out, knowing he’ll need to be able to track the man down. Derek was fast, like him, and the 5 seconds that he was distracted would be enough time for him to get a considerable distance away. 

He ran for what felt like a solid hour, before finally catching a good trail of derek’s scent to follow… his fox whined at the fact that smell was of sadness, near depression. Stiles picked up his pace at that realisation, despite his sore and tired limbs. 

After another 5 minutes of jogging, he broke through to a clearing. It was large, and in the center a giant tree stump about the size of a house. In length, not height. 

And on top of it, looking out into the distance, was derek… stiles winced at the strong smell of tears that assaulted him. He hesitantly approached the man, sat on the stump.

“What do you want, stiles?” he heard derek ask as he got about within arm’s reach. Stiles blinked slightly, before remembering duh werewolf. 

“I just wanted to make sure you’re ok.” stiles said, sitting next to the man. He saw that derek was clearly upset. Derek sighed heavily.

“I guess i’m not, not really. This is always a hard time of the year, for me anyway.” derek mumbled. Stiles nodded. He could tell derek didn’t want to talk, or he thought so at least. 

Stiles instead shifted a little bit, pressing his shoulder against derek’s, hopefully offering some sort of comfort. The way derek sighed shakily, leaning back offered some relief that he was. 

It took 20 minutes before derek started talking, stiles not expecting it. He was actually content to just sit there with the man, offering him comfort. But he would also happily listen.

“When i was in high school, younger than you like 14 or something.” derek started, somehow stiles didn’t think derek knew he was talking. It sounded robotic, but also like he needed to get it out. “I was a big basketball guy, on varsity in freshman year.” he continued. “There was this girl, paige… i, i liked her, alot. I realized, looking back, my feelings weren’t that strong, but… that didn’t matter at the time.

“I met her, and was kind of a douche to her, interrupting her cello lessons and all. At first, she wa annoyed at me, and i convinced myself i was doing it to make her upset, not to be close to her… but eventually, we became friends. But… she was human.” derek said, quietly. “My mom… she said it wasn’t such a good idea for me to date a human. I ignored her, wanting to still be with her… but i also didn’t want to upset my alpha, and mother. So, asking around other alphas i asked one of them to bite her, since i knew my mother wouldn’t do it.” he said, stiles gulped. He knew exactly where this was going, and didn’t like it. 

“Ennis, the alpha that always challenges us, is the alpha that accepted it. She… the bite didn’t take. It…. she was in so much pain, and i just… couldn’t watch it happen. I just… couldn’t… so, i… i put her out of her misery.” derek said quietly. Stiles shifted, wrapping both arms around derek, pulling him against himself. They were about the same height, so it wasn’t really a problem. “I… i can’t even blame ennis for any of this, he was just doing me a favor… it was my stupidity that caused her to die.” derek said, stiles shook his head.

“No. it was you ignorance as a high schooler who didn’t know any better. You did what you thought you had to to be with the person you thought you loved. Ennis though was an adult and knew how bad the idea was. He shouldn’t have accepted, period. I don’t think anyone would really blame you for this… not even paige.” stiles said gently, derek sighed heavily against him, before stile felt arms hesitantly wrap around him too, derek holding him soon in a death grip. Stiles just let the man shove his face in his chest, crying quietly. 

Stiles didn’t move, unused to doing this kind of thing. He wasn’t really good at… feels. But for derek… he found himself ok with trying. And it wasn’t like he was completely incompetent, he just wasn’t the best at it. 

It took a while, ten minutes stiles would estimate, but eventually derek calmed down. He had honestly been surprised at the out burst from derek. For the near 5-6 days he’d known the man, he had seemed closed off, at least with these kind of emotions. 

“Thank you.” he heard derek say, after ten minutes of silence, them just sitting wrapped together. Stiles stilled his hand, which had been… carding through derek’s hair. 

“What for?” stiles asked, derek sighed, but spoke anyway.

“For listening i… i haven’t talked about that with anyone, and… it feels good, in a way, to be able to confide in someone else.” derek said, stiles nodded.

“Yeah. it felt good the other day when you let me talk about everything, and i was able to cry without feeling judged. I get the feeling.” stiles said, even as derek sat up… stiles missed the warmth of the man’s body pressed against his. 

Derek smiled. “Yeah.” he agreed, not making a move to get up… thank god.   
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
It took 10 more minutes before they managed to get up and move. Stiles walking beside the man. 

“Sorry if i made you miss a day of training.” derek said, stiles snorted.

“I love martial arts, i’ll never deny that… but i would never choose it over someone who wa important to me. Never.” stiles said, derek looked surprised, more so at being called an important person in his life… but thankfully didn’t question it. 

“Oh, do you have the application for the nearest tournament up?” derek asked, stiles nodded.

“Yeah, i mailed it in last night.” stiles nodded. Derek smiled. 

“Good. i’m hoping for a challenge.” derek said, stiles snorted. It was good, seeing the guy back up after the condition stiles had seen him in. 

“As am i. Now, do you wanna get some training done or just relax for the rest of the day?” stiles asked, it was only 2 o’clock, so they still had most of the day. Stiles had no problem missing one day to help the guy out. 

“I think relax… i feel a lot better, it helps having someone there, but i’m still not at one hundred percent…” derek admitted. Stiles just nodded.

“No problem. Let’s just walk around and see what we wanna do, sound good?” stiles offered, derek nodded. 

The time to get out was later, though, because stiles had to get changed… he refused to walk around in sweat soaked clothes anymore. Derek agreed. Stiles shoved him playfully when he looked entirely too pleased with his own joke. 

“I don’t smell that bad.” stiles muttered. Derek snickered.

“Oh yes you do.” they both started at the new voice from behind them. Turning revealed it to be… the group from when stiles first came there. He hadn’t hung out with them since that first day… 

“You smell like the average boy’s locker room… the entire thing.” erica said, pinching her nose playfully. Stiles snorted, not missing the way derek kind of relaxed with the other people there… 

Probably a pack thing, his mind offered though he didn’t know where it came from…

“What’re you guys doing anyway?” scott asked, looking every bit a puppy…

Stiles hesitated, not sure if derek wanted other people knowing he was hanging out with a teenager…

“We’re just walking around town.” derek said before he could talk. “Stiles wanted to get a shower, and i need to run up to my place and get changed anyway.” he added. They all nodded…

“If it’s ok with stiles, yes you can come.” derek said, sighing heavily. Stiles blinked as the attention was pointed back to him… he did not expect the several hopeful looks and one glance from lydia, as if daring him to say no…

“I guess? I don’t really mind it.” stiles said, shrugging. Derek nodded. 

“Alright, then you guys go get whatever you think you’ll need. Just remember, we’re just walking around. We’ll meet on the ground floor in… 45 minutes.” derek said, to which they all nodded… stiles blinked, but accepted it. He, isaac, and scott went in the same direction, since they had their places on the same floors. 

“So you and derek are pretty close.” isaac said, and if stiles didn’t know better he’d say the guy was going for coy…

“Yeah, i guess.” stiles nodded, before scott talked.

“Was this supposed to be a date, man? Because if it was, i’m sorry that we kind of piggy backed on it…” he said, stiles blushed furiously.

“What?! No!” he said, not as earnestly as he would’ve liked… “it was just us hanging out together… and if you don’t mind me asking, why did you guys want to come?” stiles said, to which both boys shrugged.

“Well, we usually do stuff together, since we’re in the same pack. It’s just… it’s natural to do stuff like this together with pack, you know? Bonding and all that.” scott explained, stiles smiled. 

“I understand what you mean, even if i don’t know the feeling.” stiles agreed, nodding. “Well, see you in 45 minutes then.” stiles waved, trying to ignore the pain in his chest, trying hard to convince himself it wasn’t longing… he walked down the hall before either of them could respond.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
It felt like no time at all to stiles before they started walking down the street. It wasn’t overly crowded right then, a few people out but not too many. 

“How the hell can you stand being outside in august wearing a hoodie and jeans?’ jackson demanded, stiles shrugged. 

“I got used to it over time. Honestly, i barely feel the heat from it anymore.” stiles said, shrugging. Ignoring the looks from the others… even derek was looking at him a little weird. Stiles sighed, “alright, you don’t like my dressing choices. Whatever. Now, where do you guys want to go?” stiles asked, almost all of them jumping and throwing ideas out…

“Sorry if we made you uncomfortable with asking you about the layers and all.” stiles looked over at derek, whom he was walking beside. They were at the back of the group, and it didn’t look like the others had heard him…

“Nah, don’t worry about it. Not the first time i’ve been asked, and certainly not the last. I know it’s weird to wear a lot of clothes when it’s this hot out, but it just makes me more comfortable. It’s no problem.” stiles said, waving it off. Derek though just nodded. 

“Alright, we decided on going out to eat, then lazer tag, then shopping for you.” lydia said, snapping stiles out of his thoughts… stiles stared back.

“Excuse me?” stiles asked, lydia stared back, as if daring him to question it… “my mother couldn’t get me to change my wardrobe, what makes you think you’ll have any better luck?” stiles asked, lydia smirked stepping back from where she was at the front. When she was close enough, she wrapped an arm around him hugging him close, the whispered in his ear…

“Because i am very good at convincing.” she said, stiles turned his head, not stopping. 

“I’m gay, you know that right?” he asked, deadpanning. Lydia stopped, as did the others… 

Then most of the guys, namely scott and isaac, burst out laughing though both jackson and boyd were snickering at lydia’s affronted look. Even derek looked like he was fighting a smile. 

“Well… come on, stiles. I just want to help you look nicer! It’s not like you’ll die if you change your style.” lydia huffed, storming to the front of the group again, dragging jackson with her… she looked upset, and stiles didn’t know why he even freakin cared but…

“Fine! But don’t expect me to wear whatever you get me all the time. And i’m not buying the clothes, since this was your idea lydia.” stiles said, lydia looked way too pleased with herself… 

“I knew you’d see it my way.” she said, the entire group laughing, and now derek looked like he was going to pass out from how red he was from hiding his laughter… 

“You cracked faster than i thought you would. I thought we’d at least get through dinner before she talked you down.” derek said, snickering. Stiles snorted.

“Is there any particular reason she’s doing this, or is this pretty normal behavior?” stiles asked, once the others started walking again, talking amongst themselves. 

“Pretty normal for anyone we bring into the group. I used to wear nothing but henleys, something i can laugh about looking back. Lydia… she’s very persuasive when she wants to be.” derek said, stiles snorted. At least he wasn’t being singled out… and it was nice, he supposed, hanging out with people. Sure, he prefered to be training but derek looked infinitely better than he did earlier than same day.

“Are you doing ok, though?” stiles asked, very quietly, so the others wouldn’t hear. He wasn’t about to blab about everything without derek’s permission… 

“Yeah, i’m ok.” derek nodded, “i usually get back to myself a little later than this… you being there helped. But this is actually pretty common, they usually make me join them to do something like this every year around this time.” derek said, stiles blinked.

“They know what happened?” stiles asked, he could’ve sworn derek said he hadn’t told anyone…

“No, they don’t. But they always know something is wrong, they smell the tears and all, and the sadness. And they comfort me. That’s pack, after all.” derek said, stiles just nodded… he wished he had that. Many a times could he have used someone to just lean on… he again had to fight down a sense of longing… 

It didn’t take long for them to get to a restaurant, a nice pizza place. The guy behind the counter, a teenager like them, looked happy to see them. 

“Hey danny.” he heard jackson greet, before everyone started ordering their food.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
It didn’t seem like it took that long for the dinner and movie to pass… damn time. Always passed by fast when you didn’t want it to.

“Alright, what kind of style should we get for stiles?” he heard allison asked, stiles groaned as she, erica and lydia conversed…

“I’m going to seriously regret this, aren’t i?” stiles asked to the group in general.

“Yes.” they all replied. Stiles sighed, but accepted his fate and followed. He guessed this was maybe what derek was talking about the first day, about people interacting with him… 

It was weird. 

“Alright, how about something like this?” allison said, stiles looked up, blushing slightly when she pointed at just a tank top…

“Nope.” stiles shot down quickly. All three women looked upset. 

“Oh come on, stiles! Just try-” 

“No. i’m willing to try a lot of stuff, but that, “ he said pointing at the tank top, “is just too far outside of my comfort zone.” he said firmly. Lydia was actually pouting but didn’t fight it, instead pulling them into a different store… he didn’t even see a name, that’s fast they pulled him in.   
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Derek couldn’t help but feel bad for stiles. The kid was obviously uncomfortable with all of this, even if he hid it remarkably well for a teenager. Hell, the kids walls were better than his own usually were… that day not withstanding. 

But he thought it was good. Despite having spent the last few days with him, derek had been concerned that the kid was too closed off from other people, it was relieving to see him interacting with more people…

Plus, after the big help the kid was that morning, he liked seeing him happy so there was that, too. And it was only minor discomfort, nothing too big. So it’s not like they were torturing him.

“Alright. This.” derek looked over, blinking at the shirt… and realizing, he had no idea if it would fit stiles or not, he couldn’t even take a guess. The guy had always been in layers… 

“Fine.” he heard stiles say, after a minute. 

“And no sweatshirt. That’s just to get an idea of what size we need.” lydia said, everyone chuckling as stiles groaned. 

“Well, at least it’s not me this time.” jackson joaked, lydia snorted. 

“I’m just glad it’s not derek again, god that was a hard nut to crack to get him to change his style.” lydia said, sneering playfully at him. Derek smiled. 

“Well, i don’t think anyone had any really complaints.” he said with play confidence. Not that he wasn’t confident in general, he knew he was ‘hot’ to the average girl or gay guy, he just didn’t like over playing it. 

It took 3 minutes before stiles reappeared, and derek knew, like the others, his jaw dropped. The shirt was way way too small. No doubt about that. But… god, it worked. The shirt hugged over stiles tightly, showing how well built the kid was. Not buff like himself or even jackson scott and boyd. No, he was a lean, defined, and beautiful build. 

Derek blushed, gulping at how right the thought felt… 

“Oh dear god, ok. This shirt? Too small.” stiles muttered, whipping it off right there before slipping his old one over his head. This one was over large, baggy, and, to derek, a disappointment compared to the other one…

“How the hell can you be so shy with a body like that?” derek heard erica demand, though he was too lost in his own thought to listen really carefully…

“Just am.” stiles muttered. “Alright can we just get this shopping thing done? And at least try to get something slightly bigger than that shirt?” stiles said, tossing the shirt at lydia, who caught it narrowing her eyes. But in the end just nodded… 

Derek snapped back to himself when he saw stiles sit down while the others went to discuss what stiles should wear…

“What’s wrong? You seem tense.” derek said, to which stiles sighed. 

“I… i don’t like being exposed like this.” stiles muttered. “It just… makes me feel uncomfortable. But i figure i need to try to get over it, right? Better now than never.” stiles said, smiling… derek didn’t know why, but he couldn’t help but smile back. 

Sadly, to him anyway, the others didn’t take as long as he would’ve liked. They were back within moments, taking and shoving stiles into the changing room with a few outfits… 

Damn teenagers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you enjoyed! 
> 
> please comment/review, it helps my writing get better!
> 
> 5th chapter is in the works, be patient!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you enjoy!
> 
> in this chapter we finally get into real sterek moments, and i know this chapter is later than others, but i had a bit of writers block and couldn't think of anything, until recently. so here it is.
> 
> review !

Stiles was grateful when finally they were done. Though… if he was being honest, he had had a better time than he would’ve thought with the group, mainly derek but the others weren’t so bad. 

“Alright, we’ll help you carry this stuff in and tomorrow, please at least try to wear something i got you.” lydia said, when they were approaching the building. Stiles shrugged, accepting it. He had been bullied, yes he was going to go with that, by lydia and erica into wearing different clothes home, tight as hell jeans and a tight shirt. Not as bad as the old one, but not good either… 

Stiles smiled, a little, when he thought no one was looking. He didn’t like admitting it out loud, but he was actually really happy right now… this kind of thing, to him, was relaxing. Just the simplicity of it. 

But then, he never admitted it so people didn’t know that. If he admitted it, then he set himself up to be hurt… he couldn’t do that, again.

“Hey, deucalion’s back!” isaac said, smiling as they neared the dojo. Everyone, literally everyone, got excited. Stiles blinked around, before remembering that this was the guy challenging the dojo… of course they would get excited to see a fight. As was he. He followed everyone in, surprised to see cora go down with what sounded like a pained grunt, and a guy standing over her sneering cruelly. 

“And this was your best? And here i thought you were the best school in the country.” stiles heard derek and most of the room growl at the statement… 

Talia was there helping what looked like a dazed cora up, derek had dropped the bags he carried, rushing over to his sister’s side. Stiles simply pushed it out of the way, more concerned with what would be happening now, dropping his bags as well. 

“Who is he?” derek asked, after a minute. Talia sighed. 

“One of deucalion’s. Cora thought she could handle him, but obviously we were both wrong, as she got beaten so badly.” talia mumbled. The guy looked pissed at being ignored. 

“Hey!” stiles watched as, after saying that word, the guy stormed over to the hales. Stiles stepped in front of him before he could get too close. He didn’t know what it was, honestly, but some part of him didn’t want this guy near them, an unknown sense of protectiveness building in him… 

“Out of the way, kid.” the guy said, stiles raised an eyebrow, or at least tried to…

“First off, i’m pretty sure we’re the same age.” stiles said evenly, “and second, if you think i’m gonna let a creep like you near them while they tend to cora’s wounds then you’re an idiot.” stiles said, leaning on his left leg and crossing his arms. The guy sneered.

“What’re you, their bodyguard?” the guy said sneering, stiles shrugged.

“If that’s what you want to call me, sure. I’m just protecting my friends. Nothing else about it.” he said, not moving when the guy got right up in his face and-

“Stop this now.” he heard talia say behind him, he hesitated but stepped back, even if he hadn’t been the one to start it. 

“Now, deucalion was there anything else you wanted or could you leave? I’d like to tend to my daughter’s wounds in peace, please. The wounds are healing slower than usual, i’m not sure wh-” 

“He’s an alpha.” stiles said, talia looked surprised when he turned to face her. 

“What do you mean he’s an alpha? He’s only 17!” she said, stiles shrugged.

“His scents off, obvious sign of someone trying to mask their scent. Either he’s an alpha or something other than a werewolf that he’s trying to hide.” stiles said, both talia, deucalion, and the other teen that fought cora looked surprised. 

“That’s a rather impressive evaluation, especially from a mere teenager.” deucalion said, his head tilted to the side… stiles shrugged.

“Well… if that’s the case, then i will have to ask you to leave. Quietly or by force, i don’t really care which right now.” talia said, stiles winced at the bit of red that he saw seeping into her eyes. 

“What about my winnings?!” the kid demanded. Talia growled.

“You are lucky i haven’t called the police, young man. You are an alpha. Whether or not cora would have won that match, your wounds could have been fatal. And she wouldn’t have healed fast enough to save herself. Now, i’ll ask once more nicely. Leave.” she said, a small bit of alpha voice seeping in… all of the betas, even the kid, flinched. He fled quickly, deucalion sighed but followed out. 

“So… that was interesting.” isaac said, stiles smiled at the pup’s attempt to cheer the situation up. 

“Yes, quite.” talia agreed. “Now, derek get cora and bring her up, we’ll check to see if anything is too bad, if it is we may have to take a trip to the hospital…” talia said, seemingly muttering to herself. 

Derek just nodded, carrying his sister up the stairs…

“Stiles, would you join us?” talia asked, stiles blinked a little owlishly but followed anyway. 

“We’ll take care of this stuff, dood, so don’t worry about it.” scott said, stiles nodded, seeing each of the others get bags… 

The trip up the stairs was longer than before, though stiles thought, hoped, it was just in his head… 

“Thank you, stiles. For stepping in when you did. I was ready to tear that brat apart… seeing cora like that was hard.” talia said, stiles nodded, not knowing what to say.

When they got to their floor, 10 stiles noted, the first door on the right was open. They entered, stiles felt his heart drop at the sight of derek sat next to cora lying on the ground, running a hand through her hair… it was so sad looking, and at the same time sweet. 

Talia walked over, kneeling down next to her. 

“Is she ok?” stiles asked, quietly, derek sighed heavily. 

“I.. i think so. I took as much pain as i could away, but she passed out a second after i put her down…” derek said, stiles nodded. He didn’t know what to do here, he didn’t have a sibling so he had no way of knowing what derek was feeling right now. 

So he did what he did that morning and sat next to him, as talia bent over her daughter and her eyes flashed red, looking for marks an alpha might leave that normal eyes couldn’t see. 

It took a moment, but finally talia sighed. “Good. no internal damage. A little beat up, and i’m not entirely too sure why she passed out, maybe exhaustion. But i think she’ll be ok.” she said, relief evident in her voice… 

“So… who was he? That guy that beat her up?” stiles expected derek to ask it, he did. And apparently, talia did too, because she just sighed.

“His name is ethan, his twin brother is aidan. They came here challenging us, and i think ethan hit on cora a little bit. She told him to fuck off, and one thing led to another and they were fighting. She held her own well, considering that i now know he’s an alpha, but in the end he got a cheap blow in and knocked her down. She got knocked down 3 times before you came in.” talia said, stiles nodded. 

“I’m gonna break that brat.” derek growled. Stiles smiled. 

“You can’t.” he and talia said at the same time, derek looked hilariously flustered. 

“You can’t, derek. He’s 17, like me. Beating me in a sparring match is one thing, but going after a seemingly innocent teenager to the rest of the world? You’ll get thrown in jail!” stiles said, talia seemed as impressed as derek did annoyed.

“Well, i can’t just let them think they can get away with this kind of thing!” derek said, stiles sighed.

“Ok, but derek you can’t do it. Let’s say you get your payback, and then you get arrested and you’re ok with it. What do you think cora will think of it when she finds out?” stiles demanded, derek looked pissed.

“You don’t know what it’s like to have pack! You don’t know how it fe-”

“Derek!” stiles felt like he’d been punched, he gulped ignoring the glare talia sent her son, and the instant regret derek had on his haf.

“Stiles… shit, i wasn’t th-”

“No, it’s… it’s ok. You’re right, i don’t have a pack. And i don’t know what it feels like… you’re right.. I… i have to go.” stiles said, not caring that he was being a coward right then.

He left, ignoring the call of his name from derek… 

It hurt more than he’d admit, walking away…

But it hurt more knowing derek didn’t consider him pack.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Derek stared after stiles as he all but ran out of the place, he.. He hated what he had just done. He hated what he had just said. 

He hated himself for this.

“Oh god, i messed this up.” derek groaned, glaring when his mother just nodded. 

“Yes, you did… but i don’t think it’s completely hopeless, love has a way of making it work.” talia said, derek stared at her…

“I don’t love him.” derek said, knowing even in his own ears that it was a lie. 

Talia just smiled. “You can deny it all you want… but just know, he’s hurting more than you know, derek… he could use you right now, just like you could use him. You’re both strong emotionally, but… you also have your own weaknesses.” talia said, derek stared at her…

“Basically, i should just listen to my heart and accept what’s going to happen.” derek surmised, his mother flashed him a toothy smile. 

“Yes.” she nodded, “but… give him the night to calm down. I don’t think you or him need to be at each other’s throats because of emotional exhaustion.” she said, derek just nodded. Barely able to withhold the urge to go to stiles as he walked down the stairs. His place was at room 708… 

He flopped down on bed, emotionally and a little physically exhausted from the day’s events… and yet, if his conscience was right, tomorrow would be just as long.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Stiles didn’t sleep well that night. He didn’t know why he cared so much about what derek said to him. It wasn’t anything that wasn’t true. And it’s not like stiles didn’t get that derek was upset when he said it. He knew derek didn’t mean it, he didn’t mean to be hurtful. The guy was just upset that his sister was hurt.

But still, knowing that didn’t take the pain away from the words… 

He sighed, trudging his way down the stairs, surprisingly not running into anyone… 

It took maybe a minute more than it should have to get to his room, him kind of just trudging his feet along. 

He sighed heavily, wanting to just collapse onto a couch instead of going all of the way to his bed… he groaned but walked into his bedroom, damn he was going to have to get a couch… 

Though he wasn’t expecting it when half a minute after his body hit the mattress, his phone rang…

Groaning, he took it out looking at the annoyingly bright screen…

He almost fell off the bed when he saw it was his dad, the only reason his dad would be calling him was if something big was happening with his mom… 

He answered almost immediately.

“Dad?” stiles asked, a little bit of worry in his voice.

“Hey, stiles. Um, something came up with your mother.” he started, stiles gulped not even close to being ready for the worse. “There… the doctors say your mother has been getting better, recently but they say that her illness won’t go away… and it could hurt her badly as you know. But… there’s a surgery available now. They said it would have been too risky to have tried it before, but now she’s well enough to try it… but…” 

“What… what are the statistics of the surgery?” stiles asked, for some reason that being the first question that popped up. His dad sighed heavily.

“The surgery is 50-50. Either it’s a complete failure, or she’ll be completely better afterwards.” his dad stated, stiles sighed heavily… 

“She already agreed to it, didn’t she?” stiles said, his dad chuckled weakly.

“Yeah… she didn’t want to worry you, said you would be doing well there by now. But… i didn’t want to leave you in the dark, just… just incase something does happen.” his dad said, stiles smiled to himself. He loved his mom, he did. But his dad… he was probably the best person stiles knew, no offense to his mother. 

“Thanks, dad. I appreciate it.” stiles said, falling back onto the mattress. 

“No problem… now, how are you doing over there? You sound well enough.” his dad said, stiles thought back to the last couple days…

“Yeah, i’m doing great…” stiles said, trailing off… 

“But?” his dad said, prompting stiles on… damn, stiles was hoping he’d ignore the pause. 

“But, well… i don’t know, it’s stupid.” stiles said, unable to find the words. His dad sighed. 

“Stiles, it doesn’t matter if it’s stupid. Now, what’s wrong?” his dad asked, stiles sighed again.

“There’s… there’s this guy here that i like, but i don’t know why i like him so much. I mean, barely a full day of knowing him and i trusted him as much as i do you and mom!” stiles said, “then i… i don’t know how to explain it properly, but it… i feel so protective of him, but then i feel as if i can trust him enough to hide behind if i needed to, and i think he’d let me too. It’s… god, i don’t know!” stiles said, a little loudly, confused entirely of his feelings for derek.

“Oh.” his dad started with, “your mother is going to flip when i tell her you fell in love with someone over there.” his dad said, the tone teasing. Stiles sat straight up for the second time since entering that room… he stared wide eyed at the wall ahead of him…

Did he love derek? It… oh god, it felt right. God he was fucked.

“But, knowing you. That isn’t even the tip of the iceberg for what’s bothering you… now, out with it. What else?” stiles blinked in surprise, having forgotten, for a moment, that his dad was on the phone still…

“It’s… it’s about a pack thing.” stiles said quietly, his dad hummed over the line. 

“Go on, i’ll listen then offer whatever advice a human like i can.” his dad said, stiles nodded not caring his dad couldn’t see it.

“Well… the guy i guess… yeah, i guess i do love him. But… his sister, she was hurt pretty badly. Like, a werewolf being knocked out, for over 5 minutes bad. And… he wanted to go after the guy that did it, the guy being a minor… i tried to talk him down, because he would’ve been in major trouble for it i’m sure… but then he said, ‘you don’t have a pack. You don’t know what it feels like.’” stiles said, his dad quiet on the other end…

“And i… i realized, on my walk back to my place, that… i… i want to know what it feels like, but i… i think i’m too scared to try.” stiles continued quietly, drawing his knees up to himself, his dad still quiet on the other end… stiles was worried something had happened, until his dad exhaled slowly. 

“Alright… wow, and you’re sure you love this guy?” his dad asked, stiles chuckled. 

“Yeah, i’m pretty sure i still do… i mean, the words hurt but i know he didn’t mean for it to. Keep in mind his baby sister was just hurt.” stiles said, almost feeling his dad role his eyes…

“Whatever, but… you shouldn’t be scared of it, stiles. I don’t know a lot about ‘pack bonds’ or any of the supernatural world as a whole, but talia seemed like a good person, when i met her a few times with your mother. And her brother, peter? He was kind of weird but seemed nice enough. Then her husband was a good man too. And stiles… you’ve been through so much, and at such a young age. If you don’t think you can do it, then fine… but you haven’t let fear control you yet, don’t let it start now.” his dad finished with… stiles smiled up at the ceiling. Yeah, his dad was the best. And so, so right. 

“Now, i let it slide for a minute but… you said if your crush hurt the guy he’d be in major trouble because of the attacker being a minor… how old is the guy you think you’re in love with?” his dad asked, stiles felt himself stop at that… 

Maybe his dad wasn’t the best… “i… i think he’s like 23?” stiles said hesitantly, not knowing if that was true… it hadn’t come up. His dad sighed.

“Alright, 6 years… it could be a lot worse.” the last part was so distant, stiles was sure he wasn’t supposed to hear it. “Alright… just remember if anything happens between you and this-” 

“Derek.” stiles said quickly. “The guy’s name is derek.” stiles said, his dad sighed.

“Alright, well if anything happens between you and derek just remember you’re a minor, and he’s an adult. Whether or not you two see it like that doesn’t matter. The police won’t care, and neither will the media. Just keep that in mind.” his dad said, stiles felt himself nodding.

“Alright pops, will do.” stiles assured, his dad sighed as if resigned…

“Yeah, well i guess i’ll let you go then. Love you, kid.” his dad said, stiles smiled.

“Thanks, dad. You’re the best.” he said, hearing his dad chuckle over the line before it was cut off, stiles looked at the screen, unsurprised that the phone call had taken 4 and a half minutes. He was glad his dad called, despite him now being a little worried about his mom, he was overall feeling alot better… but now tired as well. 

So, he did the one thing that came naturally to him in that moment; slept.   
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
The next day, stiles blinked awake, staring at the clock… his eyes widening seeing that it was 7 o’clock… shit. 

He was up half a minute later, deciding to skip running that day and just to do some more stretches before training. He ran a good bit extra the day before, it would be fine. After getting on his white uniform, deciding against putting a shirt under the top part that day, he went out the door… 

At least, that was the plan. Instead, when he opened the door and was about to exit it he ran into a firm wall of muscle…

Blinking, he backed up surprised to see derek right there… 

“Oh, uh hey derek. What‘s up?” he asked, mind quickly recalling the conversation he had with his dad and his realisation the night before… 

“I… i wanted to make sure you were ok. I know i said some… i shouldn’t have said what i said, it was wrong of me. I’m so sorry, stiles.” derek said quickly… stiles smiled at the man, figures he would be sorry. He shouldn’t be, but it figures he would be.

“Don’t worry about it.” stiles said, “you were upset by what happened to cora, no problem… plus, nothing you said wasn’t true. It might’ve hurt a good bit, but that isn’t your fault. It’s ok.” stiles assured, derek looked relieved, as if afraid stiles would actually hate him for something like this…

“Can i talk to you? It’s kind of personal, and i’d rather no one over here.” derek asked, stiles blinked, thinking about it… he didn’t really want to miss a second day of practice, but… 

“Sure.” stiles agreed, not being able to ignore the hopeful look on derek’s face. He opened the door wider, letting derek walk in, before shutting it behind them, locking it just incase. He didn’t need anyone to overhear what he felt was going to be an intensely personal conversation. 

When he reentered the main room of his apartment, stiles saw derek sitting at one of the chairs at the table talia had brought up before, he had forgotten she hadn’t taken it back… 

But it did offer a decent place to have a conversation, he thought, so oh well. He took the seat next to derek, who seemed surprised for all of a second before a small smile appeared on his lips. 

“So, what did you want to talk about?” stiles asked, derek’s smile faltered, before he sighed. 

“I… well, first i did want to apologize, again, for what i did… even if it was out of distress or whatever, i shouldn’t have lashed out like that at you.” derek said, stiles shook his head.

“Again, you don’t have anything to be sorry about. It’s ok.” stiles assured. Derek nodded. 

“And second… i was wondering if you’d like to go out to dinner or something?” derek asked, stiles stopped, blinking at the older man who seemed… nervous. 

“Like… like a date?” stiles asked, derek took in a deep breath. 

“Not like a date, a date.” derek said, and stiles swore he saw this somewhere before…

“Ok. sure.” stiles said, smiling. “When?” stiles asked, derek seemed to think about it a little bit.

“I… i don’t know if you have anything planned but what about tonight?” derek asked, stiles smiled. 

“That would be great.” stiles agreed. Derek sighed in what looked like… relief? Weird. But his primary focus was on the fact derek freakin hale just asked him out… which meant his feelings weren’t as one sided as he thought.

“Do you want to get some practice in until then?” stiles asked, derek looked surprised before smiling and nodding. 

“I’ll run and get my training uniform.” derek said, standing up and, for a second, seemed hesitant. Before kissing stiles… stiles was too surprised at the brief and chaste kiss to return it. He just stared as derek left the room…

Oh dear god, he knew derek would be the death of him… not that he minded, much…

But now thoughts that he had pressed down came back to the surface. He didn’t want to screw this up, was the first thing he thought to himself as he headed down the stairs. He liked derek, and he didn’t want to lose him out of his life because he screwed something up on the date. As cheesey as it sounded, he valued him as a friend first. 

When he got to the bottom floor, he was surprised to see the other people, the group he had spent the previous day with, all gathered around the bottom steps.

“Is cora ok?” was the first thing out of any of their mouths. It was erica who had posed the question.

Stiles blinked, then thought duh, pack stuff,

“Yeah, she’s fine.” stiles assured. “A little banged up, but last i saw she was fine.” stiles said, unwilling to say too much. It wasn’t his place, cora was his friend but not his sister or daughter like she was derek’s and talia’s. 

“So why did talia want you to go up with them?” jackson asked next, stiles shrugged.

“She wanted to thank me for stepping in? I mean, i didn’t do anything, obviously, but i guess it’s the thought that counts?” stiles said, the group nodding. 

“So, want to practice together?” isaac said after a minute. Stiles blinked…

“Um, i’m actually going with derek today, sorry.” stiles said, shrugging. The group all shared matching smiles… stiles didn’t like them. They looked predatory. Almost evil…

“Oh, and are you going on a date with him too?” erica teased, stiles stayed quiet, moving past them. 

“He didn’t respond, does that mean yes?” stiles heard isaac say from behind him. He snorted, but ignored the rest of their conversation… though what he did hear was mostly stipulation about whether or not he and derek were going on a date. Which made him blush and… damn the nosey bastards!

Stiles huffed, but started stretching, waiting for derek to come in. the others went about what they wanted to do, stiles was grateful they didn’t push it. He didn’t do well with emotions...

When derek finally did come down stiles was already warming up on a punching bag… the group from before eyed him, stiles guessed they were looking for any give or take that derek and him were going to be out on a date. Again, damn the nosey bastards… 

“So are you taking my dear brother out?” stiles jumped, turning to see laura staring at him… it was obvious she was amused.

“Yeah.” stiles admitted, not missing the wide eyed stares from a lot of people… laura smiled wide.

“I knew you two were close!” laura said, hugging him, “so, when and where are you going?” laura asked next, stiles stared.

“That’s none of your business, lawr.” stiles heard derek say from somewhere behind laura. Laura pulled away.

“Of course it is! As your big sister, i have to be able to tease you about this kind of stuff. It’s my right.” laura said teasingly, derek just stared at her, stiles saw from where he was standing… “fine! Whatever, i’ll just find out later.” laura said after a few minutes… then she was storming off.

“She’s too nosey for her own good.” derek said when he walked over to stiles, stiles just nodded smiling.

It was a crazy family, but he liked it.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Practice then was fast, to stiles. It was only 2 by the time they decided to stop, and stiles was nervous as hell, having changed and was waiting for derek in the main entrance of the dojo. 

It took 10 minutes before derek came down, dressed as casually as he himself was… 

“So what did you want to do, then?” stiles asked, after a minute. They were walking to the parking lot, so stiles guessed they were taking one of the vehicles… 

“I was thinking something simple like dinner or something? If you’re alright with that?” derek said, more like asked. Stiles nodded.

“That sounds good.” stiles agreed. Simple sounded great right then… 

The ride, because sure enough they were in derek’s camaro, was short. When they stopped, they were at a nice diner. Small, obviously only local. But it looked nice, all the same.

Stiles was surprised at how crowded it was…

“This place is pretty popular, my family comes here a lot, but the burgers in this place… they’re amazing.” derek said, stiles just nodded. The wait wasn’t long, maybe 20 minutes, which stiles thought could be a lot worse…

Until he saw people eyeing derek like a piece of candy. 

Thankfully, derek seemed not to notice, and stiles found himself debating some things with the guy, more so the conversation led to martial arts more, but it was nice.

“I don’t know if it’s rude to ask, but i was curious as to why you started martial arts? And maybe what got you to be so passionate about it?” derek asked, when there was a lull in conversation.

Stiles blinked, but was about to talk when the hostess said there table was ready… stiles followed beside derek, and waited until the hostess had sat them, and the waitress, a nice young lady, took their drinks after putting menus in front of them. 

When she finally left, stiles started talking. “So martial arts and why i got into it, that was the question right?” stiles asked, derek just nodded. “Well, honestly there isn’t a big reveal about why i got into it. My mom was big in it, and tried to get me into it. And god did it work. At first, i liked just doing it with her, you know? It made me feel closer to her and all… but then i started working by myself on stuff, and then she got sick… i promised myself that i would continue it for her and myself, that way i always had a way to be close to her.” stiles finished with, seeing derek was nodding along. 

“I guess i can get that… it was the same for me, kind of. My mom and all of my family was into it, and i started doing it because of them and just fell in love with it.” derek said, stiles nodded. 

When the waitress came to get their order, stiles did not like the looks she was giving derek… but at the same time he couldn’t help but find it hilarious at how seemingly oblivious the man was. Because, well, the girl wasn’t exactly subtle about it. Stiles hid the snicker building by sipping from his drink, derek seemed oblivious to what was happening… 

The rest of the date went by, surprisingly, pretty fast. The conversation kind of just… flowed, in a way stiles wasn’t used to. By the time they were done eating, stiles felt a little closer to derek. He didn’t know anything more intensely personal, but he liked that he knew some smaller things about him. As cheesy as it sounded, even to his own ears. 

When they were about to leave, stiles made to pay for half of the check, but was stopped by derek.

“I’ll cover it.” he said simply. 

“I can pay for my half.” stiles said, mostly on principle, but didn’t argue about it. No use making a good date awful by arguing about money. 

When they bill was payed and they were leaving, stiles snickered at the girl sliding the check with the change over to derek… who was completely oblivious, it seemed, to the fact the girl’s phone number was written on the back. 

He threw it away on the way out, and the girl looked a little ticked off… stiles couldn’t help but find it funny.

“Why do you look like you’re about to pass out?” derek asked, stiles snickered.

“Well, that girl hitting on you all night was kind of hilarious.” stiles said, derek blinked owlishly… stiles laughed harder, leaning against the camaro when they got to it to keep himself upright. “You really didn’t notice that?” stiles asked, derek shook his head.

“She wasn’t flirting.” derek muttered. “Plus, i’m on a date with you, not her. Why would i notice if she was flirting? My attention was on you, you know?” derek said, stiles felt himself go red… and this time it wasn’t because he was laughing so hard.

“Yeah.” stiles agreed, smiling to himself as he got inside the camaro… 

He was surprised when derek took his hand in his hand. “Stiles, i promise i would never do something as crappy as flirt with someone while i was on a date with you. Or even if we weren’t. I like you, ok? Not them. I know we haven’t known each other a crazy long time, but i like to think we can trust each other with this kind of thing.” derek said, stiles blushed hotly, not surprised but very, very happy when derek kissed him soundly… stiles returned it happily. 

He couldn’t help but think how much he lo-... really liked this man. Stiles hated himself for not even being able to think the word, but it couldn’t be helped…

But god if he cared, as derek pulled away but left their hands connected on the center console, fingers intertwined… 

Stiles was so screwed for this man… yet he still couldn’t find it in himself to care.


End file.
